Ískristallar
by madamasharpless24601
Summary: After Elsa discovers that she has yet another magical power, she runs back off to her ice castle to be alone, but she ends up getting sucked into a mystical world and gets stuck working for Hans at a bathhouse. There, she meets and helps a 17-year-old boy who had been afraid to move to Norway from Iceland when he ended up in the spirit world. Maybe he can help her too. Elsa x OMC.
1. I'm a What?

(A/N) Before we start, I don't own Frozen, Spirited Away, or the cover images. I only own my OC.

"Elsa!" Princess Anna called after her sister, Queen Elsa, in anguish as the Queen dashed across the fjord, freezing it and the rest of her kingdom Arendelle, which had been in the midst of a happy summer, in the process.

But it was too late. Elsa had already disappeared into the woods.

"No, n-not again..." Anna's voice quivered as she collapsed into her husband of three months Kristoff's arms.

"I'm so sorry, Anna," Kristoff said in a low voice, brushing a loose strand of his wife's beautiful red hair out of her face.

At this, Anna started to cry. "We have to go after her! We have to. I can't lose her again just because she discovered that she has another power. She just did this to me six months ago, and she's not getting away with it!"

And with that, Anna prepared to charge into the woods after her sister, but was held firmly back by Kristoff.

"Anna, no," Kristoff scolded. "It is eleven at night, and you are still recovering from your flu. You need to go back inside the palace and rest. I will send men out to look for Elsa tonight. And I promise you that we will go out and look for her, but not until you are fully recovered from your illness."

Anna pouted. "We go tomorrow," she insisted stubbornly, but in spite of herself she started shivering from the cold and coughing.

Kristoff shook his head. "Not until you are better," he said quietly.

"Tomorrow," insisted Anna again, this time with the air of a princess who is going to get her own way, just like when she and Kristoff had first met and she had insisted that he take her up the North Mountain.

Kristoff sighed. "We'll discuss it in the morning," he said, before escorting Anna back into the palace and to her room.

Deep in the woods, a distraught Elsa fled to the place where she had built her ice castle, built a new one (since it was once again cold enough), and took refuge inside until she was sure everyone was asleep. While she waited, she wrote a note for Anna (who she knew would come looking for her) telling her that she and Kristoff would be in charge of Arendelle until her return, whenever that would be. And once she was sure that all of Arendelle was asleep, she did what she was finally free to do: she transformed into a big, beautiful white dragon and spiraled into the snowy night sky to find somewhere else to stay for a while.


	2. The Hot Spring Bathhouse

It's not so bad, Elsa thought to herself as she soared through the night air, trying to soothe her own mind. At least I'm a pretty dragon. But on the other hand, I'm a dragon! What will I ever do? Arendelle can't know!

Apparently, Elsa's efforts to remain calm were of no avail. She couldn't stop freaking out. First she had ice powers, and now she turned into a dragon?! She didn't even know why or how she turned into one!

Well, she was indeed a very beautiful dragon. She was elegant and white, with huge wings, bright ice blue eyes, and a long, silvery blonde mane. She had managed to catch a glimpse of herself in the mirror of some unknown now-frozen body of water, and had been a tiny bit soothed by the fact that she very closely resembled the Norse dragons that she had read about in countless fairy tales during all those days she spent growing up in her room, secluded from the world.

Speaking of which, living in seclusion seemed like the safest option at this point. Just as they had been afraid of Elsa's mysterious ice powers (which she had been born with, but had hidden from the world for a long time), many people in Arendelle were also afraid of dragons, who they thought did nothing but eat people.

But they were wrong—Elsa wasn't that type of dragon. They had been wrong in thinking that she was some kind of monster just because she had ice powers. How would she ever convince Arendelle now that she had no desire to eat people?

But Elsa was not going to go down the same path this time. Why should she seclude herself from the world again just because a few people couldn't deal?

With her ice powers, she had basically lived in her room her whole childhood because she couldn't get them (her powers) under control. This time it was different, though, because she was a dragon. Arendelle had accepted her once she brought summer back. Elsa could bring back summer, but she couldn't not have the power to transform into a dragon. Arendelle would never accept her now.

Arendelle would never understand. She didn't even understand.

Elsa flew for hours. She had long since lost track of the time. So she was surprised when daylight broke. Thinking that it would be a good idea to stop and rest, she landed (already quite skillfully) in front of a tunnel. It looked like a deserted enough area to turn back into a human without anyone noticing.

Elsa transformed back into a human and made herself a new ice dress. She took a nap in the tall grass for a few hours, and then she decided to take a look at what was at the other end of the tunnel. It was strange, but the wind seemed to be pulling her inside.

Much to Elsa's disappointment, however, the tunnel seemed to be nothing but an old fake building made of plaster.

But she was intrigued by the endless possibilities of whatever could be at the other end of the tunnel. At first, there was just grass, but in the distance she saw what looked like an abandoned park. She decided to have a look.

It didn't seem like there was much in the park, in contrast to the beauty it had promised from the distance. Elsa was just about to turn around and go back, but then she first laid eyes on the bathhouse.

It was the most beautiful building Elsa had ever seen, aside from her ice castle of course. She gasped in reverent admiration, actually forgetting her dragon troubles for a moment. It was a very mysterious building, made mostly of gray stones. She couldn't even begin to fathom what could be inside—besides baths, of course.

But then a harsh male voice suddenly called, "HEY!" and before Elsa could even turn around to investigate where the sound came from, everything went black.

(A/N) This is the Norse dragon upon which Elsa's dragon form is based: wp-content/uploads/2010/01/cs16_

Also, fair warning that I'll probably be putting a lot of author's notes before and after most chapters. You definitely don't have to read them all—I totally understand!


	3. Hans

"Hans?" Elsa gasped, horrified, her eyes widening in fear only seconds after she regained consciousness. "H-how did you get back in Norway?"

Hans smirked and gave a smug little chuckle. "Strictly speaking, we're not really in Norway. I mean, we are, but no one knows about this place. It's a—oh, I don't know, type of spirit world, I guess. The dwarf and elf spirits that live here come to my bathhouse to replenish themselves. All the bath water comes from the hot springs, you know. Sometimes I even allow special clients to bathe right directly in the hot springs."

"This is your bathhouse?" Elsa asked, her voice shaking. "How did you acquire a bathhouse?"

Hans chucked evilly again. "After my punishment in the Southern Isles was through, I ran away from home. I stumbled upon this place, much like you did, and I discovered the bathhouse. Knowing that I had finally found my own place, I ran the owner out, and I've been the head honcho ever since. I've also taken up sorcery. I'm quite excellent at it by now, if I may say so myself."

Hans did indeed look very pleased with himself.

All Elsa could do was stare at Hans in horror and disgust. She thought, I have to get out of here!

Unfortunately for Elsa, though, Hans seemed to have read her mind, if that was at all possible, for he raised his hand and apparently cast some sort of spell to knock her out.

For the second time that day, everything went black for Elsa.

Hans called to his bodyguards. "Bring her bath salts to revive her and spirit food and water so that she may live among the spirits," he ordered his men as they filed into his office. "I cast a special spell on her. When she wakes up, she won't remember anything, not even her own name. I'll put her to work as my assistant. She wouldn't let me take over her kingdom, so now she's going to work for me."

2 years later….

"Ís, has our special guest taken his bath yet?" Hans demanded of his henchwoman.

"Yes, master, he has," Ís replied, going away to get herself a drink.

After Elsa had had the spell cast on her by Hans, she had been renamed Ískristallar, or Ís for short. Hans had taken away her name to keep her under his control, just like he had done to the rest of his workers, as Ís had found out shortly after she had begun her work. As a result of Hans' sorcery, Ís no longer remembered her real name, nor did she remember ever knowing Hans prior to her arrival at the bathhouse. She had forgotten her family and her kingdom. She had even forgotten her ice powers and her struggle with them, although she did remember her other power, and regularly switched between her human and dragon forms to go on missions Hans sent her on. All she knew was that she worked for Hans now.

Well, that wasn't entirely true, Ís thought to herself as she sipped her drink. She also knew that she had had another name, but she could not remember it after two years. She'd tried everything to remember her real name. She knew her real name could not possibly be Ís.

And that wasn't all she knew, either. Her (greatly compromised thanks to Hans) memory suddenly went to the one time in the fjord. She was nine years old. She had saved a little boy from….falling out of a plane?

No, that wasn't it. It was really bothering Ís that she only had the vaguest memory of what had happened that day. Even though Hans had evidently not erased everything from Ís' mind, she still didn't have enough memories to satisfy her. She wanted to remember. She couldn't even remember the boy's name.

Ís shook herself out of her reverie, finished her drink, and reminded herself that remembering what had happened that day was far from the most important matter at hand. Yes, it was wonderful that she had saved someone's life, and she would treasure what few memories she did have forever, but she would more than likely never see the boy again, and right now she had a job to do.

A/N: "Ís" is pronounced "ees" and is Icelandic for, well, "ice". "Ískristallar" means "ice crystals" in Icelandic.


	4. One Summer's Day

(A/N): The title for this chapter comes from the opening song in Spirited Away. The song is, as you probably figured out, called One Summer's Day. I love the song, and claim no credit for the title. I just thought it fitting for this chapter. The song and title belong to Joe Hisaishi (I assume so?)

Anyway, on with the story!

"I'll miss you, Aðalbjörn. Your best friend, Sebastían," the seventeen-year-old boy read out loud off of the goodbye card he held in his hand.

"Aðalbjörn? Honey, we're almost there," Aðalbjörn's mother said from the passenger's seat.

"I sure hope so," said Aðalbjörn, stretching his long legs across the backseat.

It had been an exhausting journey all the way from Iceland to Norway (it's much farther than usual when one is scared to move to the latter location from the former), and Aðalbjörn was a little nervous—scratch that, not so excited—to be starting the new school year at some strange school. He was supposed to have the best year ever with his three closest friends, complete with hopefully finally spotting an elf or two. But now the guys would be having it without him. Aðalbjörn tried to suppress a sigh.

Aðalbjörn's mother remarked to her husband, "Jakob, this really is in the middle of nowhere. I'm going to have to drive at least half an hour to shop."

Jakob shrugged and said, "Well, we'll just have to get used to it, Ágústa."

Just then, the family's car passed by a rather daunting-looking, though not unsafe-looking school.

"Oh, look, Aðalbjörn, there's your new school!" exclaimed Ágústa. "Doesn't it look wonderful?"

"It looks awesome!" added Jakob.

Aðalbjörn refused to even look out the window. "Ertu að djóka?" he demanded of his mother. "It's gonna suck. I liked my old school."

"Aðalbjörn Aaron Jakobsson," Ágústa scolded, "please quit whining. It's very unlike you. Besides, it's fun to move to a new place! It's an adventure!"

The family drove to their new house. As they got out of the car, Aðalbjörn said to his mother, "Hey Mom, I'm just going to go for a walk. I'll be back."

Ágústa frowned. "But honey,'' she protested, "don't you want to see our new house? Your new room is even bigger than your old one!"

Aðalbjörn managed a small smile for his mother, but it didn't reach his light green eyes. "I will," he said. "Later. But right now I just want to go for a walk. I want to check out the fjord here. And I'm sorry for whining."

"It's okay, honey, I understand," said Ágústa, looking after her son a little worriedly as he disappeared from view.

(A/N) Ertu að djóka?–Are you joking? ( icelandic/2013/07/24/swearing-in-icelandic) Warning: SWEAR WORDS!

The Icelandic letter ð is pronounced like the "th" in the word then.

In case you don't know how Icelandic names work, they are patronymic. So if Aðalbjörn's father's name is Jakob, then Aðalbjörn's full name is Aðalbjörn Aaron Jakobsson. If Jakob has a daughter, her last name is Jakobsdóttir.

Also, I'm not sure how or if this will be relevant to the story, but Adal means noble (I forget in what language though), and Björn means bear in Icelandic.

Here's a list of Icelandic given names and some of their meanings: .de/wiki/Icelandic_Names


	5. The Bridge

(A/N) So in this chapter, we're going to find out more about our adorable strawberry blond protagonist! Also, if there are any Icelanders who read this story, please drop a review if I got my facts wrong.

Lastly, a huge THANK YOU! to anyone who has read my story this far. It means a lot, and I hope you like it.

Now on with the story!

Aðalbjörn just needed a moment to think. That was all. That was why he had wandered near the fjord. He wasn't running away; he just wasn't ready to go into the house yet. If he went in, that would mean that it was his home. And Iceland wasn't anymore.

It wasn't that he didn't like Norway. In fact, he liked going anywhere, really; he always loved an adventure. It was just that, well, growing up in Iceland, he believed in elves, which most Norwegians didn't, and he wasn't sure how that would affect his reputation at his new school.

Back in Iceland, Aðalbjörn knew lots of people who believed in elves. All three of his closest friends did, and so did all of his extended family. Both of his parents believed, too, but they had taken this belief a step further than most others.

Aðalbjörn's parents had actually dedicated their lives to finding elves, but had found little evidence to prove that they actually existed. Even so, most people they knew praised their persistence and admired them for the slightly different life path they had chosen and the interesting people they had become. And Aðalbjörn had had plenty of classmates back in Iceland who had also believed that there were elves out there somewhere. Their parents' jobs just didn't consist of hunting elves.

The only reason that Aðalbjörn's belief in elves was a problem was the small group of popular kids that thought they were so above believing in elves. The guys were all self-absorbed bodybuilders who cared for little other than "scoring" a night with a girl and having the biggest biceps. All the girls cared about was dressing like trashy streetwalkers. It goes without saying that Aðalbjörn had zero interest in any of these. It also goes without saying that these preps didn't believe in elves, and they scoffed at anyone who did, especially their strawberry blond classmate.

Now, Aðalbjörn didn't care about being popular. He was the furthest thing from preppy, but he was sensitive. And it totally sucked when you won some award for academic excellence in Creative Writing and that one preppy bodybuilder guy, Erlend, shouted, YEAH, ELF BOY! WRITE US A FAIRY TALE! and made the whole school, save your three best friends, double over with laughter. Many of those people who laughed believed in elves themselves (although there is much to be doubted that they actually hunted for them). But that one small group of popular people had spread rumors that Aðalbjörn talked to himself all the time, or to invisible elves (which wasn't true; he had never spoken to an elf in his life). And a good percentage of his classmates, although not all, simply accepted it without even trying to get to know him themselves.

To make things worse, even though Iceland was full of redheads, Aðalbjörn was the only guy with red hair (strawberry blond if you take a moment to really look at him) among his friends, who all had light blond hair. Thankfully, no one had ever teased him for it, but still. It only exacerbated the difference between himself and the few people who accepted him.

If there was one thing Aðalbjörn hated, it was standing out. He wasn't exactly shy, but he hated any type of attention, good and bad alike. No, that was the wrong word. He didn't hate it if it was good, but he didn't know what to do with it. Even if it was good attention, he usually masked his discomfiture with a bit of an attitude, a childish habit he'd unfortunately never grown out of.

Whenever this happened, he always felt guilty afterwards. Unless, of course, it was his snotty teammates who were giving him the "attention". But on the other hand, sympathy was the absolute worst.

Most of the time, the popular kids were easy to forget about. Despite his sensitive and sometimes immature personality, Aðalbjörn was wise beyond his years, and he knew without his parents telling him that some day these kids wouldn't matter in the long run. If he liked elves (and he did, very much so), then he was going to hunt for them, no matter what anyone said. It was just those few moments of teasing, that one small, insignificant group of kids, that really got to him. And he didn't think he could deal with a whole entire school of non-elf-believers in Norway. That was why he was so—he could think the word out here alone—nervous to go to a new school.

He wasn't unhappy, though; no, not at all. Well, he hadn't been before the move, anyway. He had three great friends who believed firmly in elves and always went along on his elf hunts, loving parents who always told him that being different was a good thing, and a home in a magical land of beautiful glaciers in which he could've sworn he'd seen beautiful female elves looking at their reflections. That one with the curly blonde hair especially.

But now he was separated from his friends and the glaciers. Well, there was a fjord here, but it just wasn't the same. And his mother, to whom he was closer than anyone else, would hardly ever be home because of her new job that she was to start in just two days.

Aðalbjörn shivered at the thought. Or maybe it was just getting late. He hadn't thought to bring a sweater. That was all right, though. He grew up in Iceland, so the cold had never bothered him anyway.

Thanks to the limited success in finding evidence that elves existed, Aðalbjörn's parents had been struggling financially for some time. Just six months ago, however, his mother had been offered a part-time job as a nurse (for which she had gained the experience in college) in Norway. Unable to turn down the job, she, along with her husband, had decided that the only option was to accept the job and move to Norway.

"Well, now we're here, and this is good for Mom, for our family," Aðalbjörn said to himself. Then suddenly he frowned, disoriented.

"Wait a sec," he said, looking around. "Where am I? And why am I on this bridge?" He must've walked farther than he thought.

Aðalbjörn turned around to start heading back to the house (it was inevitable, after all) when he was stopped in his tracks by a beautiful girl with an ice blue dress and platinum blonde hair in a braid. Seeing the boy, the girl gasped and glared at him frostily.

"You shouldn't be here!" she said, her voice sharp. "It's almost nighttime. Quick, get across the bridge!"

Aðalbjörn was totally confused as to why he was suddenly being pushed all the way across the bridge away from where he intended to go, but he did as the girl said, partly because she was by far the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen, and partly because he figured that the smart thing to do was listen to someone who obviously knew this mysterious area much better than he did.

Much to his (admittedly delighted) surprise, the girl grabbed his hand and pulled him into what looked like an abandoned park. "Come with me!" she commanded, dragging him into darkness.

(A/N) This article has information about what Norwegians believe in. It also says they don't believe in elves. .no/20140310/gallery-twelve-strangest-things-norwegians-believe


	6. Fire!

"Please forgive me for speaking so sharply," the beautiful girl said to Aðalbjörn, who just stared at her, too stunned to speak. The two had stopped running and were now standing outside a door made of a thick slab of slate gray stone.

"Uh, n-no problem," he finally managed to stutter after a rather awkward moment of silence. "I mean, thanks. Ugh, no!" he chastised himself. "I mean, it's okay."

The poor flustered boy facepalmed. He'd been through a lot today.

"Yes," said the girl with a subtle nod and smile. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ískristallar, but most people call me Ís."

Aðalbjörn waited for Ís to ask him his name, but when she didn't, he figured it didn't make any difference to her. "So," he said, "where am I?"

Ís lowered her voice and said, "You are in a spirit world. Lots of elf and dwarf spirits live here. This is a bathhouse for the spirits. I am the owner's henchwoman."

Aðalbjörn smiled a huge smile, his beautiful, clear green eyes filling with happy tears. "I always knew elves were real!" he exclaimed, seizing Ís around the waist and swinging her around in a circle.

Ís couldn't help but giggle at the strawberry blond's sudden outburst. The boy was just so adorable. Aðalbjörn himself, though, was a bit embarrassed.

"I-I'm sorry about that, miss," he said sheepishly, resting a hand on the back of his neck and looking down at the ground.

Ís smiled. Her smile was warm and genuine. Oddly enough, though, Aðalbjörn noticed that it looked a little rusty. It was as if she had forgotten how to smile until now. But he figured she was just trying to compose herself; she seemed very regal. Her dress reminded him of the glaciers that he had known and loved in Iceland.

"Anyway,'' said Ís, "I'm going to go to the kitchen to get some spirit food for you. If you don't eat any, you'll disappear soon." Then Ís' expression became troubled.

"What is it, miss?" Aðalbjörn inquired, his voice full of concern. For her, that is, not himself.

"Um,'' answered Ís, pausing for a moment like she was thinking about how best to say something, "don't look, but you're already starting to disappear."

Aðalbjörn, immediately disregarding Ís' warning, brought his forearm up across his eyes, and was shocked to discover that he could see Ís right through his arm!

"Cool!" he exclaimed, smiling another wide smile at Ís, who laughed again.

"I'll be right back," said Ís. "Also, you may call me Ís. No need for usage of titles between friends."

"All right," said Aðalbjörn. "Ís."

Ís turned to go to the bathhouse kitchen, when she realized she had forgotten something. She turned on her heel to face her new friend.

"Oh, and Aðalbjörn," she said, "what is your nationality?"

Aðalbjörn replied, "Icelandic. Wait, how did you know my name's Aðalbjörn?"

Ís smiled that mysterious, genuine smile and replied, "I have known you since you were just a little boy."

Aðalbjörn looked after Ís for a moment after she had gone, entranced by her beauty and mysteriousness. There was something so foreign about a strange girl that could grab him by the hand and make him feel instantly comfortable to be his exuberant, childish self around her. Back home in Iceland, the only people he could do that around were his three best friends and his mother.

And yet it seemed like Ís needed help too. He could feel it. Just in–oh, he didn't know, the way she smiled. At first it had seemed halfhearted, dull, and forced, and then it had seemed genuine, but like she wasn't used to it. Aðalbjörn wondered what this girl could have possibly gone through to cause her to forget how to smile.

And it wasn't just that. He felt as though he….knew her or something. Like she had done something for him and...he owed her. How strange that she had known his name without asking him. He didn't know what she could have done for him before now, but he did know that he had to find out what was troubling her so that he could help her.

As Ís waited in line in the bathhouse kitchen, she was feeling joyful and perplexed at the same time. On one hand, she was joyful because she had not only made a new friend, but she felt some connection to him other than the fact that she already really liked him. On the other hand, though, this connection perplexed her. She felt like –no, she knew– that she'd met this boy a long time ago –heck, she'd even known his name– but she could no longer remember exactly when or how she met him. She wished she could remember. But she had to put that aside for the time being and focus on getting her friend a job at the bathhouse as long as he was going to stay here.

Ís brought Aðalbjörn all the Icelandic food the bathhouse kitchen offered, and after he had eaten enough to prevent himself from disappearing immediately, he had informed Ís that it was the best Icelandic food he had ever eaten, and it wasn't even from Iceland.

Ís explained to the boy that in order to stay safe in the bathhouse, he would have to get a job. So Ís took Aðalbjörn to the outdoor baths manager by the hot springs, the rock troll Grand Pabbie. As soon as the boy and girl had entered the other side of the big gray door, the boy was immediately accosted by a barrage of baby trolls.

"What's that?" one asked, grabbing the surprised boy's leg.

"I don't know!" exclaimed another.

"He looks funny!" said a third.

"Hey, let's be nice now!" commanded an old male troll. This one was bigger than the rest.

"I am pleased to meet you," the troll said to Aðalbjörn. "My name is Grand Pabbie. What is yours?'

"Aðalbjörn, sir,'' replied the boy.

Ís said, "Grand Pabbie, I brought him here to get a job. He came into here from the human world, and he must have a job in order to stay here."

"But what about my parents?'' asked Aðalbjörn, concerned. "They'll be so worried, and there's no cell service out here!"

Ís explained, "The pathway to the entrance to the human world turns into glaciers at night. I will take you back there tomorrow, when it changes back to dry land. But for now, let's get you a job just in case, even if you only end up working for one night."

Grand Pabbie said, "Well, he may work down here and supervise the baby trolls as they collect herbs for the baths, but Hans will still have to approve. I will call him down here now."

Grand Pabbie called Hans on a telephone made of rocks, and in a few minutes the auburn-haired, cold-eyed bathhouse manager came down.

"Ís! What does this mean?'' Hans demanded, pointing sharply at Aðalbjörn. The latter noticed that the former's green eyes were like daggers. Or poison.

Ís replied calmly, "Grand Pabbie is going to give him a job down here, watching after the young troll workers."

"Oh no he isn't!" Hans yelled. "I'm not taking humans!"

"Well," said Aðalbjörn stubbornly, bristling at the unreasonable rejection, "I'm not leaving until you give me a job."

Hans sighed. "Fine, he can work here. Stupid feisty humans. Boy, sign this contract."

Aðalbjörn took the pen and paper Hans handed him, signed the contract, and handed it and the pen back to Hans. Hans studied the paper and smirked.

"So, your name is Aðalbjörn," he said cruelly. "How nice. Well, it belongs to me now. Your new name is Björn."

And with that, Hans left.

Grand Pabbie said, "Björn, here is your work uniform. Put it on, and you may begin supervising the trolls. Ís and I will keep you company."

"But don't worry. We trust you," said Ís, making herself and Björn crack up.

"Oh," Ís added, "and keep your regular clothes!"

"What for?" asked Björn.

"I'll tell you later!" Ís called after him.

When Björn came back, he, Ís, and Grand Pabbie watched the trolls complete their work for the day. Grand Pabbie and Ís asked him many questions about his life in Iceland and his move to Norway. When the baby trolls were done with their work, they gathered around their new supervisor.

"Look at all the relaxing herbs I collected!" one of them bragged.

Björn took the herbs from the troll, sniffed them, and handed them back. "They smell amazing! That's awesome!" he smiled.

A second troll tugged on a small white card that was falling out of Björn's regular clothes, which he was holding in his hands.

''What's this?" asked the troll.

Björn took the card (which was the goodbye card from his friend Sebastían), read it, and frowned. "Aðalbjörn?'' he asked no one in particular, pronouncing his real name slowly, like he had never even heard it before. "Aðalbjörn! That's my name! How could I have forgotten?"

Grand Pabbie nodded understandingly, a sad expression on his rock face.

Ís said, "That's how Hans controls you, by stealing your name. We'll help you remember your real name by calling you by it down here, but if and when you're around the other workers, you have to go by Björn. But remember your name. Once you forget it, you'll never get home. Whatever you do, guard that card. Do you think you can remember your name until tomorrow morning?"

"I can, and I will," Aðalbjörn promised gravely, his crystal-clear green eyes gleaming with determination.

"Good," said Ís, her expression full of adoration for the exuberant boy.

A third baby troll tugged on Björn's pant leg. The boy bent down to the troll's level and smiled.

"Look, master," said the troll shyly.

"Call me Björn –no, Aðalbjörn," the strawberry blond laughed. "That's my name. Besides, there's no need for usage of titles between friends." He and Ís exchanged a smile and a laugh. "Now what is it?" he asked, turning his attention back to the troll.

The little troll puffed with pride. "Look. I earned my fire crystal today!'' he said, showing Aðalbjörn a brilliant red crystal.

"Ooh, that's pretty! What did you get it for?" asked the boy, genuinely intrigued. He reached out to take the fire crystal.

"Aðalbjörn, don't touch tha–" Grand Pabbie started, his voice panicked. But he was interrupted by Ís yelling, "Grand Pabbie! The youngest troll is running off into the woods!"

"Get back here, little one!'' Grand Pabbie called, waddling after the littlest troll. But he was not fast enough to catch him, and neither was Ís in her dress.

Aðalbjörn handed the crystal back to its owner and hurried after the mischievous youngest troll.

"Come back!" cried the boy.

But he was too late. The troll disappeared from view.

"No!" shouted Aðalbjörn. "Stop!"

Instinctively, he reached an arm out in the direction of the forest –and a brilliant orange beam shot out of the tips of his fingers. In the distance, a tree erupted into flames like a geyser.

The beam had been one of fire.

Aðalbjörn gasped in horror at what he had apparently just done. When he could finally tear his eyes away from the flaming tree, he looked toward Ís and Grand Pabbie. "What just happened?" he asked, his voice trembling. "What did I just do? How did I do it? And why are you looking at me like that?"

But no response came. The rest of the little trolls had taken cover. Ís stood frozen (A/N: No pun intended) in a reverie, remembering something from a long time ago. Grand Pabbie's expression was one of shock and great concern.

(A/N) That's all for today, folks! More is coming soon!

Sorry to point out the 'frozen' pun. I couldn't resist.

I know that, up until Aðalbjörn's fire powers, the story has pretty much been Spirited Away with Frozen characters, as a kind reviewer took the time to comment (Thank you again!). But don't worry, everybody, this is going to be a long story, with lots of plot twists and setting changes. I definitely don't plan to follow the plot of Spirited Away clear through, so please just bear with me for the earlier chapters as I get everything set up for the real fun to begin ;)

My story has been up for less than one day, and already seventeen views? Wow, thank you so much, guys! That's more views than some of my opera stories that have been up for several months have!

~madamasharpless24601 3 3 3


	7. You Can't Go Home

Ís was the first to act. She took a few steps toward Aðalbjörn, took his hand in hers, and just simply said, "It's okay."

The stunned boy finally found his voice. "How did I do that?" he asked again.

Ís replied, "I don't know, but we'll figure it out. It's okay. I promise."

Aðalbjörn nodded. "Thanks," he said, taking his hand out of Ís' and nervously intertwining it with his other hand, as though anything he touched would be immediately set on fire. Which was probably true, but he sure wasn't going to be testing that theory out anytime soon.

Grand Pabbie, with a large, worn book in his hands, joined the two.

"Ís," he said, "I would like to have a moment alone with the boy. Will you go find the little troll, bring him back, and make sure he is okay, please?"

"Yes, Grand Pabbie," said Ís, immediately leaving to find the littlest troll.

Once Ís had disappeared, Grand Pabbie turned to Aðalbjörn and said, "Young man, I'm afraid you have a potentially very dangerous superpower. Please come and have a closer look at this book."

As Aðalbjörn took a tentative step closer, Grand Pabbie opened the book to a page whose whereabouts he had no trouble finding.

"You see," Grand Pabbie continued, pointing to a line in the book as further explanation, "when you took that fire crystal from the troll, its properties went straight into you, giving you your fire powers. That was why I told you not to touch it, but unfortunately, I was interrupted by that youngest troll and his practical jokes."

At that moment, Ís came running back as fast as she could, the littlest troll unconscious in her arms.

"He was struck in the head by the fire!" she exclaimed urgently.

Aðalbjörn's heart sank when he saw the big black mark on the troll's forehead, put there by his fire.

"Go get him a bath ready," Grand Pabbie instructed her. "Give him to Aðal–" he paused when he saw that the boy showed no sign of unlacing his hands any time soon. "No, give him to me. He'll be fine."

Ís handed Grand Pabbie the troll and went away. After struggling with the troll's weight for a few seconds, Grand Pabbie said to himself as he flipped through the big book with one free hand, "Okay, now where's that spell used to cure a hit to the head by fire powers? Oh, here it is," he said, nodding as he read over what was on the page.

Grand Pabbie placed his hand over the burn mark on the troll's forehead and recited an incantation. His gravelly voice was barely even a whisper. When he was finished, the troll immediately regained consciousness, jumped out of Grand Pabbie's rock arms, and threw his own little arms around Aðalbjörn's leg.

Aðalbjörn stiffened, not wanting to hurt the troll again. Now his voice was barely a whisper as he said to Grand Pabbie, "I don't understand. How is he….how is he not terrified of me now?"

Grand Pabbie first spoke to the troll. "Bedtime for you, little one," he said gently. "Now go to your favorite hot spring. Ís is going to give you a bath there."

Aðalbjörn's heart once again misgave him as he watched the troll's face light up with excitement. As the little troll waddled eagerly away, Grand Pabbie turned to Aðalbjörn and explained, "I removed the memory of what just happened from his head. But we're lucky he was struck in the head, and not in the heart. That would have been much, much more serious."

"Why?" Aðalbjörn inquired. "What would have happened?"

Grand Pabbie explained, "When one is struck in the heart by fire powers, that fire is then trapped inside his or her heart. The person–or troll–affected grows angrier and angrier at anyone who has ever wronged him or her, but is stuck in a horrible state of being physically, verbally, and mentally unable to express or even acknowledge that anger. The anger eventually overcomes him or her, and he or she becomes increasingly weaker and eventually dies."

"That's….terrible!" Aðalbjörn exclaimed, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. "I-is there any cure for it?" he asked, almost frantically.

"Well, yes," Grand Pabbie said slowly, "but it is extremely difficult to acquire while in the state the affected one would be in. You see, the only way to save him or her is an act of forgiveness on his or her part. In most cases, though–and I have encountered several in my existence–the affected one is too far gone and weakened by his or her own anger and succumbs within around one hour. It's a very grave situation."

Aðalbjörn was crying now. "I don't ever want to put anyone through that kind of misery. And the thought that I could...so easily….." he sobbed, finally unlacing his hands and reaching out to Grand Pabbie, asking him for a hug. The grandfather troll tenderly embraced the boy, silently comforting him as he cried.

By the time Ís returned, Aðalbjörn had fully composed himself.

"The littlest troll is asleep, and it seems that the others have gone to bed as well," Ís said in a hushed voice.

"Good," said Grand Pabbie. His voice was hushed as well. "I will remove the memory of the most recent events from all their heads while they sleep."

And then he went away, leaving Aðalbjörn and Ís alone together. Ís could tell right away that her friend had been crying.

"You were crying," she noted, studying Aðalbjörn's face. Strange, but he already looked years older than he had earlier that evening.

Aðalbjörn blushed. He didn't want Ís to know.

"No, I wasn't," he lied, a hint of childish attitude in his voice that he instantly regretted.

Fortunately for him, Ís only found this even more adorable.

"Yes, you were," she said with a smile. "Don't even try to deny it. It's okay to cry. I understand. I do. I had troubles similar to yours a long, long time ago, and I cried all the time when it all just became too much."

"What were your problems?" Aðalbjörn asked Ís, immediately forgetting himself.

Ís smiled at him a little sadly. "I can no longer remember exactly," she said.

"Wow," said Aðalbjörn. His heart was broken for Ís. "Hans really took more than just your name from you, didn't he?"

"Yeah," agreed Ís softly, "he did."

Aðalbjörn took a few steps closer to Ís, awkwardly slipping an arm across her shoulders. He wasn't trying to make a move on her or anything, just trying to comfort her, but he had never had, let alone initiated, any type of physical contact with a girl before. So he was a little taken aback when she responded by resting her head on his chest, but delighted nonetheless. And he hardly even knew her. This time, though, he masked his awkward discomfort by trying to lighten up the situation.

"Well," he said, wrapping his other arm around Ís, "I don't like Hans for doing that. And tomorrow I'm going to tell him so before I go back home. And I'll drag your real name out of him, too."

Ís spun around to face Aðalbjörn, removing her head from his chest in the process, much to his secret disappointment.

"Why," she laughed, genuinely shocked at the idea of anyone standing up to Hans, "you wouldn't!"

"Oh, yes I would," he insisted.

"You would what?" asked Grand Pabbie, joining the two.

"Nothing!" blurted Aðalbjörn, making Ís burst out laughing.

"Okay, okay, you two," chuckled Grand Pabbie.

Then his face took on a much more serious expression. He said, "But Aðalbjörn, I'm afraid I have some bad news. Your powers are rather strong, in fact stronger than I have ever encountered in a person with fire powers, and they are new, so they are very hard to control. I'm afraid you can't go back home until your powers are under control.

Aðalbjörn tried to keep a straight face, if only for a few seconds. He didn't want Ís to see him cry.

"I understand," he said through tightly strung vocal cords, "but if I'm going to work here now, I don't want to be tired. So I'm going to bed now. Good night."

And then he fled out of sight to the main bathhouse and into the bedroom Ís had set up for him earlier before she, Grand Pabbie, or anyone else could see his tears.

(A/N): I have gone back and further edited all of my chapters thus far. I would like to extend a huge thank you to maripaz6, who has been graciously taking the time to review my story and gave me the suggestion to make the entrance to the spirit world ice rather than water! The edits have been made! Please check out his/her stories as well!

Also (and this is for anyone), if you think my edits could be further developed, or are detrimental to the story rather than improve it, please, PLEASE let me know if you wish to take the time to do so (and I understand not everyone will). Constructive criticism is ALWAYS appreciated.

Thank you!

~madamasharpless24601


	8. Did I Hear You Say You Love Me?

"Sir, your bath is ready. Come with me right this way," Björn said to his current customer, a jovial dwarf spirit, leading him down a corridor to his bath.

"Why, thank you very much, kind young man," said the dwarf spirit, handing Björn a generous tip.

"Of course. Have a nice bath," said Björn, leaving the room to go on break.

Björn had now been working at the bathhouse for nine months. He had started out supervising the baby trolls, but Ís had convinced Hans to give him a promotion once his powers were under considerable control. He missed his parents terribly, but he knew he had to get his powers completely under control before he could return home to them.

Speaking of home, he had long since accepted that it was now in Norway. He was no longer afraid to go to a new school—he had seen far too much in the spirit world for that. Impatient spirit customers, the gossip and whispers of the bathhouse workers whenever their human coworker walked by, a perpetually angry and very possibly crazy boss, and having to hide what had been almost uncontrollable fire powers as he worked—you name it, he'd dealt with it. Besides, he wasn't even sure he could go to school when he got back home; just two months ago he had turned eighteen (Ís had been disappointed that she had not known and was thus not able to give him a birthday party; he had just been thankful that he still remembered his birthday at all). Maybe he was too old. Or at least he felt too old. School just seemed so prosaic compared to being in the spirit world.

"Björn?" a sharp male voice shook him out of his thoughts. The foreman, the spirit of a very large rooster, was staring him straight in the face.

"Yes, sir?" Björn stood up straighter at the sight of the foreman.

"A special customer is coming soon, and she has requested our largest hot spring for her bath. Please get it ready for her and report back here. You may take the horse to save time."

"As you wish. Thank you," said Björn.

He went out to the front entrance to the bathhouse, where the beautiful white horse spirit was waiting for him. The foreman must have called for her. He mounted the horse spirit and instructed her to gallop into the woods.

As he and the horse made their way to the hot springs, Björn wondered how soon it would be until he could return home to his parents. His powers were well enough under control by now, weren't they? He no longer shot flames out of his fingers whenever he got upset or made sudden movements with his hands.

The first four months had been the most difficult of his life. He could hardly even work, even though his only job had just been supervising the baby trolls. Whenever he felt even the slightest bit upset, he would set anything he touched on fire.

About seven months ago, he had gone into the main bathhouse to get lunch for Grand Pabbie, when he had bumped into Hans. Hans had yelled at him for five minutes straight about being clumsy and showing his face in the main bathhouse when his only job, a pity job, was to supervise the lowest of the workers. Björn had yelled back that the little trolls were sweethearts and that they worked twice as hard as everyone in the main bathhouse (besides Ís) put together, including Hans himself. Hans had almost fired him (as it was, he had given him a black eye), but the high-standing female elf spirits that Björn often waited on had overheard and had threatened Hans with their patronage if he fired him.

But that wasn't what had shaken him up that day. What had shaken him up that day was that Grand Pabbie's food, which had been assorted cold cuts, had been burned to a crisp.

Björn knew it was his fire that had done the damage. When he showed Ís, she had said that stress made his powers more difficult to control. So she and Grand Pabbie had tried to make his job as stress-free as possible. They kept him away from the main bathhouse, where he was most afraid to go lest his powers be found out by Hans, until they were able to get his powers under reasonable control.

That was when Ís had convinced Hans to give him his promotion. Okay, she may have claimed that Björn was working much harder than he was (again, his powers, not laziness, were to blame for the fact that he had hardly worked at all), but the real reason she had done it was because he himself had told her that he felt calmest around her.

Björn was so lucky to have Ís. She made each day away from his parents, each day working for Hans, a little more bearable. She was so kind, caring, and beautiful both inside and out. Every night, after they had finished the day's work, she would ask him if he still remembered his name, whereupon he would give a nod and pull out his goodbye card, before storing it safely away in its hiding place once more.

He still wished he could help Ís remember her name, though. He wanted to do something for her to repay her for all that she had done for him. Her mysteriousness only drew him to her even more.

"Aðalbjörn!" exclaimed Grand Pabbie as the boy dismounted the horse. "What brings you here at this hour?"

Aðalbjörn responded, "The foreman says a special customer is coming for a bath soon, and she has requested the biggest hot spring we have. I'm here to get it ready for her."

Grand Pabbie nodded. "Excellent," he said. Then he spoke into a rock megaphone.

"Would all baby trolls please report back to my station. I repeat, all baby trolls report to my station. Thank you."

In no more than a few minutes, all the trolls had gathered around Grand Pabbie. Each troll held an already large bundle of herbs in his or her fist.

Grand Pabbie said, "I have an announcement to make. Aðalbjörn is soon going to be waiting on a very special customer. She is taking a bath in one of the hot springs. As long as she is here, Aðalbjörn must go by Björn. Please call him by his work name while the customer is here. God alone knows what Hans would do if he found out that Björn still knew his real name."

The trolls quickly gave their promise, and Grand Pabbie dismissed them back into the woods to finish their work.

Björn prepared the hot spring for a bath, then rode back on the horse to the main bathhouse. When he reported back to the foreman, Hans was there, too. He did not look pleased.

Björn laced his hands together, partly because he was nervous, and partly so that he wouldn't set Hans on fire lest he suddenly decide to strangle his boss.

At last Hans spoke. "You were supposed to have been here ten minutes ago, Björn," he scolded. "I cannot allow you to work in the main bathhouse alongside your girlfriend if you are unable to be on time for such a special customer as this one. She's new here, and she has money, you idiot! Money! Now, get out of my sight, you insignificant human! Don't keep her waiting any longer! And don't hold your hands together like that. If only you could see how stupid it looks!"

Aðalbjörn's eyes narrowed. Thanks to Hans, everyone was staring at him, which he hated. He unlaced his hands, gripping the hem of his uniform shirt instead and praying that no one would notice the burn marks that were already beginning to form on it.

He snapped at Hans, "First of all, I'm not stupid or insignificant. The elf spirit customers love me, as you're probably too self-absorbed to be aware. Second of all, Ís is not my girlfriend. Mind your own damn business. And third, I've got a very special customer whose bath I just spent two hours getting ready, and just what were you doing during all that time, counting up all the money you've made off of us? Well, I'd hate to make you go bankrupt, so I'll thank you not to take up any more of my precious time. I've got a job to do."

And then Aðalbjörn strode away from Hans before the latter could react. By the time he reached the elf customer who was looking at him expectantly, he was Björn again.

"Welcome to the bathhouse, ma'am," he said in a very businesslike voice, already having composed himself. He was getting better at that.

The female elf spirit studied him for a long moment. Finally she said, "You kept me waiting, boy." She had a very commanding, almost ghostly, voice.

"Yes, well, I'm so sorry about that, ma'am," Björn responded. He wished she wouldn't call him boy. He was eighteen, after all.

But he shook it off and explained to the elf, "I was held up. Again, I apologize. But your bath is ready. Follow me right this way, please."

Obviously Björn could not take the horse this time, so the walk to the hot springs took longer than ever. He was terribly frightened by just the presence of the elf spirit, and terribly confused as to why she looked so familiar. He knew there was no way he could have ever seen her before. And he didn't like the way she was staring at him; he could not see her, as he was leading the way to the hot springs, but he could feel that she was staring at him. He couldn't imagine why.

Björn held the big gray stone door to the hot springs open for the elf. He led her to her bath, saying a quick hello to Grand Pabbie as he and the elf passed him. He addressed Grand Pabbie as Master, which felt unnatural, but he had to do it while the customer was here. The last thing he needed was for Hans to know just what Grand Pabbie and Ís had been helping him with.

"Here is your bath, ma'am," he said to the customer, gesturing to the luxuriously set up hot spring. Please call if you need anything."

While the elf took her bath, Aðalbjörn talked to Ís, who had just gotten back from a mission Hans had sent her on.

"He made you do what?" a shocked Aðalbjörn demanded of a very distraught Ís.

Ís shook her head. "He sent me to steal some sort of potion. I don't think he knows how to make it himself," she laughed, trying not to sound upset.

"And he says he's so good at sorcery…." Aðalbjörn trailed off. "But really? God, how do you deal with having to do that all the time?"

"Well," said Ís, "I don't really care for the shopkeeper I had to steal the potion from, so that made it easier. He doesn't take very good care of his customers, and his merchandise just isn't of good quality. I'm surprised Hans doesn't know that."

"I'm not."

Ís said quietly, "I hope you will not think badly of me for going on Hans' missions. As you know, I am bound to him. I would give anything not to do some of the things he asks me to do. But I cannot refuse, or he will do very bad things to me. And maybe even to you, since we're friends."

"I know," Aðalbjörn reassured Ís, "and it doesn't make me love you any less. I just wish there was some way I could free you from Hans."

"It's not nearly as bad as it was before, not with a friend like you," said Ís. The she smiled. "Did I hear you say you love me?" she asked.

Aðalbjörn blushed. "Well, yes," he said, "but I mean as my best friend. I don't know what kind of mess I would be in if it weren't for you."

"I feel the same way about you, Aðalbjörn," said Ís, but the strawberry blond couldn't help but notice that Ís looked a little…..disappointed!? He hoped he hadn't hurt her feelings!

To smooth the awkwardness over, he quickly said, "Wait till you hear this. On my way here—"

Ís interrupted him eagerly, "You mean when you stood up to him and called him self-absorbed? I heard about that from Dísella. You know, the female dwarf that works on the second floor of the bathhouse? I can't believe you said that! I wish I had been there to see it!"

Aðalbjörn said, "Yeah, and he said you were my girlfriend!"

Now it was Ís' turn to blush. "And what did you say to that?" she inquired, trying to sound as casual as possible.

Aðalbjörn said, "I told him you weren't my girlfriend." He tried not to sound wistful or disappointed that what he had said to Hans earlier was true.

"Oh," said Ís.

The two stood awkwardly facing each other for a minute. Before either of them could speak, though, Aðalbjörn was startled by a tap on his shoulder.

He spun around to face the elf spirit customer. She did not look happy.

"The bath wasn't hot enough, there was no shampoo left, and the herbs all smell like they were picked last year!" she snapped. She dumped some gold coins into Björn's waiting hands. "You're lucky I pay you the full price this time! And you're lucky I don't tell your boss what terrible service I received!"

The elf stormed haughtily away, her long golden curls bouncing as she went. Ís and Aðalbjörn looked at each other.

"Well," said Aðalbjörn, taken aback, "I guess we won't be seeing her again."


	9. Elsa

Aðalbjörn couldn't sleep. Ís kept swirling like a storm inside his mind. Her crestfallen expression when he had said he only loved her as his best friend—it had been too much! It broke his heart. He had never wanted to make Ís feel pain. Not after all she had done for him.

And she had done a lot for him. She had really stuck her neck out for him, claiming he was working hard when she was really helping him get him powers under control. She had tried everything from relaxing breathing techniques to having Grand Pabbie recite beneficial incantations. She had even gone so far as stealing some of Hans' elixirs and bringing them back to Grand Pabbie to make a potion to get rid of Aðalbjörn's powers. And he still had his powers, though Ís and Grand Pabbie had helped him get them under well enough control.

Working in the bathhouse with Ís was the best solution. He knew that she would never let anything bad happen to him. Just the thought made him much calmer, and the calmer he was, the better control he had of his powers.

And she was so, so beautiful. That platinum blonde hair, always in a flawless braid, marvelously decorated with little snowflakes, was so cute. Aðalbjörn always wondered what the snowflakes were for. And Ís' kind personality and kind face were a perfect match. She was mysterious and interesting. And her dress was perfect, too: very sexy, but far from being trashy. And those ice blue eyes! They were like Cupid's bows straight into his heart. Dear God, he was in love with her!

Then Aðalbjörn remembered: he was going back home tomorrow. It really was rather unfortunate, he thought, that he was realizing only now that he was in love with Ís, but he knew he had to return to his parents. He winced slightly at the thought—he'd have a lot of explaining to do. But in a way it was also a good thing, for now he was forced to tell Ís he was in love with her.

He could do it. He could. He would. The thought should have made him nervous, but it didn't. He was finally able to fall asleep, a small smile on his face as he dreamt of Ís.

Ís felt horrible. She had done so much to protect this boy, yet she was sending him back home as soon as it had become evident that he did not feel the same way she did!?

Well, Ís supposed that wasn't exactly true. She did not, and would not, make the decision to send Aðalbjörn back home until she was one hundred percent sure that his powers were under control. He was ready now. Ís always knew that he would have to go home.

But was she ever going to miss him! For a very long time, though, he had been the only light in an existence committed to working for Hans. She had Grand Pabbie and the baby trolls, of course, and she loved them with all her heart, but they obviously didn't make her feel the same way Aðalbjörn made her feel.

His childish excitement entranced her. At the same time, though, Ís knew he would make one fine, noble man. He was very wise; it was almost painfully obvious. He knew exactly how to deal with just about anyone: Hans, difficult customers, rambunctious baby trolls, you name it. Those light, crystal-clear green eyes were beautiful in every mood: wide and innocent when he was happy; piercing when he was angry (usually when provoked by Hans); teasing and light-hearted when he said something to her that almost literally swept her off her feet; even when he was sad, they were beautiful, gleaming with big tears.

But Aðalbjörn hardly ever cried anymore. During his time in the bathhouse, he had learned to take things much more in stride. Ís figured that that was what came of having potentially dangerous powers. She of all people would know.

Wait a minute, would she?!

Ís figured her thoughts were just becoming irrational because she needed to get to sleep. She decided that if Aðalbjörn did not love her back in a romantic way, she would get him to tell her so tomorrow, before he went back home. Ís slowly drifted off to sleep.

"Aðalbjörn, are you ready to go?" Ís asked her friend, who was once again wearing his regular clothes, which had been freshly washed. His goodbye card was tucked safely away in his pocket.

"Do I have to wear this?" he laughed. He felt a little silly in his schoolboy clothes from nine whole months ago, and he was sure he had grown an inch or two.

Ís giggled, "Sorry, but all we've got here are work uniforms. Now hurry; we have to get you back into the human world before Hans wakes up."

Aðalbjörn nodded. "So, the story is that you woke up this morning and I was just gone, right?" he asked.

Ís nodded. She stepped away to let Aðalbjörn say goodbye to Grand Pabbie and the little trolls.

Aðalbjörn knelt down so each little troll could kiss him on the cheek. Some were crying; others gave him little herb sprigs as parting gifts. Once he had said a proper goodbye to all the baby trolls, he took Grand Pabbie's rock face in his hands (his powers were well enough under control) and said, "Grand Pabbie, I will never be able to thank you enough for all you have done for me. I will never forget you or any of the little ones. Goodbye."

Grand Pabbie said gravely, "May you live a long, fulfilling life, and may your powers be always under control. I know you can do it. Goodbye, dear Aðalbjörn."

Then Aðalbjörn and Ís left, Ís leading the way through the spirit world to the entrance to the human world. They made small talk along the way; neither wanted to say goodbye to the other.

When they finally reached the entrance, Ís said, "I'm afraid I can't go any farther. But I would like to have a few words with you before you go, if you don't mind."

Aðalbjörn turned to face her. "Not at all, Ís. Anything," he said.

Ís took a deep breath. "Um, well…."

"Yes?"

Aðalbjörn was silently freaking out. Was she about to say what he hoped she was about to say?

He noticed, too, that her eyes were gleaming with determination for... whatever she was about to do. They looked like…...ice crystals. And her dress and the snowflakes in her hair—they all looked like…..ice crystals! So that was why her name was Ískristallar!

"Ískristallar…." mused Aðalbjörn, forgetting what Ís was about to say for the moment, but feeling like he was remembering something from a long time ago.

Ís looked a little impatiently at her friend. She didn't like being interrupted, and this was something important that she was going to tell him!

Aðalbjörn must have picked up on her impatience; his brow furrowed and he immediately felt guilty. "I'm sorry, Ís," he said. "But I couldn't help but notice your dress and...your eyes," he said, blushing. "You look very pretty today. You always do. But anyway, your dress looks like ice, you see, and it reminded me of something from a long time ago."

Now Ís was excited. "You had a memory return? What was it?" she asked, leaning forward eagerly.

Aðalbjörn said, "Once when I was little, my parents and I took a trip to this kingdom called Arendelle. Even though it was summer, so many people were there to skate because the fjord had been mysteriously frozen over. Rumor has it that a little girl had frozen the fjord with ice powers very similar to my fire ones."

Ís' eyes widened. That little girl sounded all too familiar…..

"Anyway," Aðalbjörn continued, "I was skating on the frozen fjord, when suddenly I fell through the ice and the lower half of my body got trapped under it. I thought I was done for, but then a little girl with blonde hair like yours came by and the fjord began to thaw. I was able to keep my head above the water until my dad pulled me to safety. I remember the girl's father, the king of Arendelle, being scared, for some reason. He had called out the girl's name. It was—"

"ELSA!" cried Ís, glomping Aðalbjörn. Now her eyes had tears in them.

"Elsa is my name. I had ice powers—I could form ice from my own two hands. I am the queen of a kingdom named Arendelle, and I have a sweet sister named Anna! I remember everything now, thanks to you!" Elsa said to the surprised strawberry blond.

"Well," chucked Aðalbjörn, composing himself, "why don't you tell me all about it before I go?"

"All right," said Elsa. "I was born to King Agnarr and Queen Iduna of Arendelle. I have a little sister named Anna. I was born with ice powers, although I'm not exactly sure why I have them. But much like your fire powers, they were very hard to control. One day when I was little, I was playing with Anna in the snow, when I struck her in the head with my powers. My parents, Anna, and I went to Grand Pabbie, who also lived in the woods in Arendelle at the time, for help."

Aðalbjörn was stunned. "You….knew Grand Pabbie?"

"Yes," said Elsa. "And I didn't even remember him at the bathhouse! But that's what Hans has done to all of us. Except you; you were just too strong to let him get to you. Anyway, I doubt Grand Pabbie remembered me, either. I'll go and remind him when I go back. But I don't have to stay. I am a human, not a spirit, after all. But I'll take several days to get packed. Can you meet me here in two days?"

"Of course," said Aðalbjörn. "But can you tell me more about your powers?"

Elsa said, "So Grand Pabbie removed all memories of my magic from Anna's head, and told my parents that I must stay secluded in my room from everyone, including Anna."

Aðalbjörn's brow furrowed. "Grand Pabbie didn't mean any harm, though, did he?"

Elsa shook her head. "Of course not," she said. "But I do believe he was wrong about how best to control my powers. Hiding them was not the right way to go. Stress only makes them harder to control, and I remember being angry at my parents all the time because I didn't understand why I couldn't play with Anna anymore."

"But how did Grand Pabbie and the baby trolls get trapped in the spirit world?" Aðalbjörn wondered.

"I don't know," Elsa said, "but the babies' parents are still in Arendelle." She sighed. "They must miss each other terribly."

"I know how that feels," Aðalbjörn said softly. "But what is the best way to control your powers?"

Elsa said, "Not hiding them. I wish I had remembered about mine. Then I could have helped you get yours under control and return to your parents so much quicker."

"I understand, Elsa," Aðalbjörn said, using Elsa's real name for the first time. "There was no way you could have remembered."

Elsa replied, "But I remember now. And I remember saving you. The night you came here, I was actually trying to remember saving a little boy, but I couldn't. But now I know you were the boy."

"That was why I felt like I owed you! Because I was the only one who could help you remember your name! I just didn't know it!"

Elsa laughed. "Well, then, you don't owe me anymore," she said. "But my parents were so worried that someone could have seen my magic. I guess you were the only one who picked up on it, though."

"What became of your parents?" Aðalbjörn asked.

Elsa grimaced. This was the one part she didn't want to remember. Even if she had been angry at them for handling her powers poorly, they were still her parents. "They died at sea," she said quietly.

"Oh, Elsa," said Aðalbjörn, embracing her, "I'm so sorry."

Elsa returned the hug and said, "Shortly after I was crowned the new queen. But at my coronation ceremony, I had gotten into an argument with Anna. She was going to marry…..Hans!" Elsa was a little shocked to remember this.

"Your sister was going to marry Hans?!" Aðalbjörn couldn't believe it. "But why?"

"She had been so lonely having no one to play with all those years. So she agreed to marry the first man she met when he proposed. Anyway, he tricked her into thinking he was nice. I feel partially responsible, though. I shouldn't have shut her out."

"Elsa, none of this is your fault!" Aðalbjörn exclaimed.

"I see that now. I told Anna she couldn't marry a man she just met, and she demanded of me why I shut her out of my life, what I was so afraid of. Anna had pulled off one of my gloves, which I wore to keep from freezing everything I touched, and I got angry at her and accidentally revealed my powers to the public."

Aðalbjörn asked, "What were you so afraid of, though?"

Elsa replied, "Hurting Anna again. And what the rest of Arendelle would think of my powers. They feared I was a monster, so I ran away to where I was finally able to let my powers go and be free. Once I was able to accept my powers, then I was able to control them and use them only when I wanted to. But then Anna found me in the ice castle I had built myself, and I still wouldn't let her help me. When she wouldn't go away, she informed me that I had frozen Arendelle over when I left, something I had not been aware of. Upset that I had not been able to keep my powers from hurting anyone, I told Anna she was not safe around me and to leave me alone. But Anna insisted that she would help me. At this, I commanded her to go away, whereupon I became so upset I accidentally struck her in the heart with my powers. The ice in her heart would have killed her had she not sacrificed herself for me when Hans was trying to kill me. But this act of true love brought her back from the dead."

"Wow," said Aðalbjörn, taking it all in. "Can you use your powers now?"

Elsa shot her hands out several times, but nothing came out. She picked up a rock, but no ice crystals formed on it. "Hans must have taken them from me," she said flatly.

Aðalbjörn's eyes turned into fire. "I'll kill him for doing that to you and your sister," he spat.

Elsa said, "Well, at least I have my name back. Thank you—so much."

Aðalbjörn's gaze softened into something entirely different as he looked into Elsa's eyes. "There's no need to thank me. The pleasure is all mine," he said. "But then….did you melt the fjord when you saved me?"

Elsa blushed, seeing her opportunity to say what she had been wanting to say. "Yes, I did," she said. "They say 'an act of true love will thaw a frozen heart'. Love thaws. I guess I knew I was in love with you when I saw you, even though I was only nine."

Aðalbjörn stepped closer to Elsa, took one of Elsa's hands in his, and wrapped his free arm around her waist. "I'm in love with you, too," he said softly, looking tenderly into her eyes.

Then he leaned in slowly and kissed her.

It was the first kiss for both of them, tentative but sweet and true. To both of them it seemed to last hours, yet was over way too quickly at the same time.

When they pulled back, Aðalbjörn said, "But….I was only three! I'm eighteen now, so that would make you...twenty four! Of course age doesn't matter to me, but what will other people think?"

Elsa said, "Sometimes you just have to not care what other people say. Sometimes you just have to let it go. Anyway, since I am—well, was; I'm going to quit now that I'm free—Hans' henchwoman, and a human, he put a special spell on me to keep me from aging so that I would be physically strong enough to work for him forever. So I'm still twenty one, and I have no idea how to break the spell."

"I'll break it," said Aðalbjörn. "I'll break Hans' neck!"

Elsa said, "Please avoid that if you can. I hate war."

Aðalbjörn promised, "Okay. But if I really have to do it….."

Elsa smiled a little and said, "I have to go now. I'll tell Hans I quit, and then I'll try to help Grand Pabbie and the baby trolls remember their names. I'll see you here in two days."

Aðalbjörn was confused. "But doesn't Grand Pabbie already have a name?" he asked.

"Yes," said Elsa. "But he doesn't like people to know it. So he goes by his nickname Grand Pabbie, which he remembered because it was written in his big book. You can ask him yourself for his real name."

Aðalbjörn said, "All right." Then he pulled Elsa into his arms and kissed her one more time. "I love you," he said. "Be safe, and remember your name."

Elsa smiled. "I love you too, and I will remember." she said. Then she was gone.

Aðalbjörn looked after her for a moment, and was surprised to see a white beam in the sky taking the same path Elsa would have walked to the bathhouse. Suddenly it all snapped into place. "Elsa," he said her name reverently, lovingly. "She's a dragon?"

Aðalbjörn crossed the path between the spirit and human worlds, went through the tunnel, and through the fjord back to his house.

"Mom! Dad! It's me, Aðalbjörn! I'm really back!" he shouted, sprinting towards the house. He wasn't exactly sure how long he had been gone, but he knew it had definitely been longer than overnight. He was a year older, after all.

But no answer came. No one came running frantically out to meet him, which was very strange, considering how long he'd been away. Concerned, Aðalbjörn peered into the garage. His father's car was not there. He tried all the doors, growing increasingly scared. But they were all locked, and no one was inside. The For Sale sign with the Sold sticker was still in the driveway. Weeds had grown all over the yard. The little house was completely deserted.

(A/N): I put a link in the beginning of the first chapter to a Wikipedia page of creatures in Norse mythology. To name a few, there were dwarves, elves, roosters, and white horses. And a lot more, obviously. Feel free to check out where I did my research for the story. We probably won't see much of the workers, though, as I have decided to take the story in a different direction from that which I originally intended to go.

If anyone has any ship names for our new couple, please feel free to suggest them in a review!

Thanks to Disney Wiki for Elsa and Anna's parents' names!

UPDATE: to the guest reviewer who keeps writing fanfiction in my review box, please stop. It's really rude and doesn't provide any useful feedback whatsoever. If you want to write your own story, great, but please don't do it in my review box. Also, please do not use Björn or any of my other OCs without my permission. Thank you ^^


	10. Never Again

Warning: VERY depressing/sad chapter ahead!

"Young man!" a woman's voice rang out, full of concern.

Aðalbjörn turned to see a small, middle-aged woman with light brown hair jogging toward him and away from the house next door.

When she reached him, she asked, "Are you the son of Jakob Sæmund Ólafursson and Ágústa Halla Lárusdóttir?"

"Yes, I'm Aðalbjörn," he confirmed, immediately taking note of the woman's kind but anxious face, feeling even more scared. "Do you know where my parents are?"

At this, the woman's face crumpled as if she might be about to cry. She said, "Come inside my house with me, honey. You may want to sit down for this."

Aðalbjörn had never felt fear as intense as he was feeling at the moment, not even when he had first discovered he had fire powers. Speaking of which, he hoped he could keep those under control when the woman told him her news. He knew right away it wouldn't be good.

The woman led him inside her house and they sat down in her living room. She looked solemnly into the boy's anxious eyes and said, "Aðalbjörn, I'm afraid I must share some very difficult news with you."

"Just tell me and get it over with," he said, his voice heavy with dread.

"The night you first moved in, the whole neighborhood was going to have a welcome party for you guys at my house," the woman began. "But neither you nor your parents ever showed up. I had known you might not come, since Ágústa had come over earlier to let me know that she and Jakob were going shopping and to ask to watch for you when you came back. But they never came back that night. The next morning I was informed that they had been hit and killed by a drunk driver. I'm so sorry, dear."

Aðalbjörn seemed to shrink into his chair. He clasped his hands together in a death grip to avoid striking the innocent messenger of the horrible news. As it was, searing sparks began to flame between his tightly clasped hands, unbeknownst to the woman. But the pain the woman would have felt from the fire, even if it had struck her directly in the heart, didn't even begin to come close to the pain Aðalbjörn felt as _his_ vulnerable heart was ripped in two, as half of his world and the world as he knew it met an abrupt death. His mother and father were dead!

The tears came slowly. First it was just one silent tear, then two more, then four more not-so-silent ones, and then Aðalbjörn was sobbing.

For a very long time, he cried uncontrollably, harder than he ever had in his life. The woman came over and embraced his trembling figure, and when he was sure he wouldn't set anything he touched on fire, he clutched tightly onto her shoulders, the way he had done to his mother while she comforted him after their dog died. He had been only eight when this happened.

When his sobs had subsided enough that he could choke out a few words in between them, he turned to the woman with streaming, bloodshot eyes and said to her, "They never knew I had gone missing for nine months. But I waited the same amount of time to return to them, only to find out that they died the first night! And my mom never even got to start her new job! I WILL KILL THAT DRUNK IDIOT MYSELF FOR KILLING MY INNOCENT PARENTS!"

He started sobbing into the woman's shoulder again. The whole long wait had been for nothing. He would never see his parents again.

Never again would his father drag him along on one of his winter sport excursions, clap him (rather painfully) on the back whenever he was proud of him, or ruffle his strawberry blond hair and remark that at least it wasn't nearly as red as his own.

And never again would his mother, his loving, sweet mother, tenderly embrace him whenever he had a bad day, take long walks by the glaciers with him as they talked for hours, or turn her cheek up for him to kiss each night before he went to bed.

And never again would he go on elf hunts with them. He would never even get to tell them about the spirit world, about the elf spirit customers, about Elsa.

The thought made him cry harder, if that was even possible. The woman tightened her grip on him. Seeing no other option, he did the same to her.

Aðalbjörn finally managed to stop crying. It seemed like he had cried for hours, which was very possibly true. But the woman had been most kind; she had embraced him and rubbed his back the whole time, just trying to comfort him. She didn't use words. She knew they wouldn't help with _this_ kind of pain.

Just like his mother would have known.

Aðalbjörn pushed this thought to the side for the moment so he could pull himself together (he knew he would cry again later tonight though) and thank the woman for letting him know what had happened and for being so kind.

"Thank you for letting me know and for being so kind to me," he said sincerely, raising his head to look into the woman's sympathetic eyes. For once, the sympathy didn't bother him.

The woman stood up and responded, "Absolutely. By the way, my name is Lisa. I will take you in for tonight, since the real estate company put your house up for sale six months ago."

"They what?" Aðalbjörn should have been outraged, but instead he felt nothing. His grief-broken voice was no more than a monotone.

Lisa grimaced. "I tried to tell them no, that the deceased owners had a teenage son that I had a feeling would come back some day, but all they cared about was getting the money for the house."

"I know so many people like that," Aðalbjörn said, his mind immediately going to Hans. "It's ridiculous. But thank you for doing that."

"Of course," said Lisa. "Anyway, you are welcome to stay with us for as long as you need. My husband Karl will be home from work soon, and my daughter Sadie is at a friend's house for a play date. It's about time for me to pick her up. Would you like to come with me, or would you prefer to stay here? Either one is fine."

Aðalbjörn quickly made the choice. "I'll come along," he said. He didn't want to be alone. If he was alone, he would start crying again, and probably wouldn't stop for hours, maybe even days. He would just have to let it all out later at night, when no one would interrupt him.

"All right," said Lisa. "I'll start the car."

"So how old is Sadie? And what do you and your husband do for a living?" Aðalbjörn asked Lisa, who kept her eyes on the road as she drove. He felt totally numb inside, but he wanted to find out more about this woman who had been so kind to go out of her way and help him in this time of need.

Lisa responded, "Sadie is six years old, and she's very sweet, but sometimes she gets a little inconsiderate of other people's space. Don't be surprised if she tries to hug you when you meet her. I'm a part time kindergarten sub, and Karl chops ice for a living. Legend has it some of that ice goes to a kingdom called Arendelle. Have you ever been?"

Aðalbjörn nodded. "Yeah, once when I was three," he said, choosing not to go into full details. He didn't want Lisa to think he was going crazy from his grief over his parents' deaths.

Lisa said, "Arendelle is a wonderful place. But have you heard? It's been frozen in an eternal winter for nearly three years now! I wonder why?"

For the first time since learning that his parents had died, Aðalbjörn felt his first real emotion other than crushing grief. And it was a terrible sinking feeling.

"Um, Lisa?" He had no idea how best to explain this, how much information to give. She seemed like a very trustworthy person and all, but how best to explain this….

"Yes?"

Aðalbjörn finally said, "I can never thank you enough for putting me up for the night and helping me in this great time of need, but I think I will have to be on my way tomorrow."

"Oh, okay!" said Lisa. But she looked a bit perplexed. She asked, "But where will you go? Will you have a place to stay?"

Aðalbjörn nodded. "Yeah, I'm just going to stay with a good friend," he said. He'd go find Elsa in the spirit world tomorrow and ask her if she knew anything about Arendelle being frozen in a three year long winter.

"Okay, and you can always come back," said Lisa. "Just make sure to write or something to let me know that you're safe."

"I will. I'll write," promised Aðalbjörn. Grand Pabbie should know how to send a letter from the spirit world to the human world.

"Thank you," Lisa said. She turned off into a driveway.

"Well, we're here," she said cheerfully. "Let me go and grab Sadie, and we'll be on our way back home in just a moment."


	11. I am Just an Elf

After Lisa's family was asleep that night, Aðalbjörn wandered out to the entrance to the spirit world. He didn't want to wake the whole house or scare little innocent Sadie with his inevitable crying.

He had never been here at night before. Now he could fully appreciate the beauty of the glaciers that transformed the entrance to the spirit world at night into a collection of beautiful elf mirrors. Each glacier glowed of a different color. The entrance was like an aurora display on the ground.

Just like his mother had loved.

Aðalbjörn couldn't take it any longer. He sank to the ground and began crying again. Everything he saw reminded him of his now deceased parents. They would have marveled at the beauty of the entrance to the spirit world at night. His mother loved auroras. Lisa had comforted him just like his mother had done for eighteen—no, seventeen—years. Karl was built big, just like his father had been. Sadie's soft ash blonde hair was just like his mother's had been.

And the whole family—Norwegians, mind you—believed in elves.

How could Aðalbjörn have been so afraid of Norwegians and their differing beliefs from his, when his parents would later die that night thanks to some drunk idiot, their last memory of their son one of a sulky teenage boy who didn't want to move?!

He would have done anything to change their parents' last memory of him. He had and still did love them with all of his heart. How could he have been so selfish? All he had cared about was that he didn't want to move. He didn't want to live among people who wouldn't understand his belief in elves. But he had wasted his energy on that fear as well, since there were even a few Norwegians that believed in elves, too, apparently.

Aðalbjörn brushed the tears off of his face and gazed around him at the glaciers. He knew he couldn't cross over into the spirit world until tomorrow, but he at least wanted to have a look at the multicolored mountains of ice. They were just so…. _magical_. They were just like a mini Iceland in their own right.

"Excuse me, boy," said a familiarly ghostly female voice.

Aðalbjörn turned around to face the elf spirit he had waited on yesterday. Had it really been yesterday? It seemed like a lifetime ago. Yesterday, his parents had still been alive in his mind.

"What is it, ma'am?" Aðalbjörn jerked himself out of his thoughts. But he was taken aback. He couldn't imagine why the elf spirit would want to talk to him when she had been so angry yesterday, unless she wanted to snap at him some more.

But this was clearly not the case, as the elf said, "I thought you seemed like you needed my help. You look like you've been crying. Won't you tell me what's wrong?"

Aðalbjörn said a little stiffly, "What do you want with me? All you seemed to want to do was insult the bath I spent two hours making for you. I could have sworn there was a full bottle of shampoo in there!"

The elf looked a little sheepish. "Do forgive me for that," she said. "But it was necessary. You see, I overheard your little argument with your boss yesterday. I could see that he was considering firing you when you said he was too self-absorbed to notice that all the elf spirits loved you. I could just tell. Do think before you boast, dear; it's often not worth it, especially if it's done to the wrong person. To save you from being fired, I feigned being an angry customer. The bath really was perfect. I thank you for that. I didn't pretend to be _too_ angry, of course, for I knew that would also have the opposite of the desired effect."

Aðalbjörn blinked. "So….you were only pretending to be angry to keep me off of Hans' radar? Thank you so much! I guess I shouldn't have been so quick to boast, huh? I can only imagine what he could have done to me…..but how are you here now, on the human side of the glaciers? Aren't you an elf spirit?"

The elf laughed. She had a delightful tinkling laugh. "Yes, I was only pretending. And what do you mean, am I an elf spirit? I am just an elf."

For what seemed like the thousandth time that day, tears welled up in Aðalbjörn's green eyes and spilled over.

The elf frowned. "Why, what's wrong?" she asked gently, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"My parents," said Aðalbjörn, wiping his hand across his eyes. "They were elf hunters. I spent nine months away from them in the spirit world, only to come back here to learn that they had been killed by a drunk driver the night we moved to Norway. They would have been thrilled to meet you."

"I see," said the elf. "I'm so sorry to hear that."

Aðalbjörn realized something still didn't make sense. He asked the elf, "Why do you want to help me so much? And how did you know where to find me?"

The elf laughed, "I go wherever I'm needed. And it seems like you need a friend. And an elf to prove that they exist."

Aðalbjörn's eyes filled with happy tears this time as the elf's golden curls and flowing white gown finally registered in his memory.

"I've seen you before!" he exclaimed. "Many times, looking in the glaciers back in Iceland. Even when I was very little. I'm sorry I didn't recognize you yesterday! I thought you looked familiar. But I always knew there were elves in those glaciers."

"Yep, I know you, the little strawberry blond boy I watched grow up from his first elf hunt at the age of three to his last hunt in Iceland before his big move," said the elf. "I've seen you from time to time your whole life, practically. But I had always been afraid that a boy like you wouldn't want to talk to an elf. But I knew right away when I saw you in the spirit world that I had to befriend you, and that there was no more time to lose. I never did find out your name, though. Won't you tell me what it is?"

"Aðalbjörn is my name. What's yours?"

"Lovely, lovely name," said the elf. "I am Heiðrúnn."

Aðalbjörn was curious as to why Heiðrúnn had been afraid he wouldn't want to talk to her. "You know, I've always loved elves," he said. "Why would I not have wanted to talk to you?"

Heiðrúnn sighed. "Ah, yes. Well, I'm afraid that I sometimes have irrational fears that make me waste opportunities because I'm afraid to do certain things. I'm not exactly sure why I was afraid, though. Silly me."

Aðalbjörn mused, "I guess just the thought of the unknown?"

"Maybe."

"So tell me more about yourself, Heiðrúnn."

The elf started, "Okay, so you already know my name's Heiðrúnn and that I have silly fears sometimes. What else is there? I've been around for a long time. My life was once perfectly, positively idyllic, dear. I love glaciers and cold beaches. I used to run a little salon by the glaciers, which make for excellent mirrors. I just treated female elves such as myself to a spa day, or a haircut, or a dress fitting, whatever it was they came in for. But I closed the salon down last year so I could dedicate all my time to looking for my family."

"Your family?" Aðalbjörn was confused.

Heiðrúnn explained sadly, "I once had a husband and two little elf children, but some time ago they were washed away in a glacier run. It seems like such a long time ago. I've looked all over the world for them. I haven't seen them since, and I haven't much hope left that they are even alive."

"I'm so sorry, Heiðrúnn," Aðalbjörn said softly. "I just found out today that my parents have been dead for nine months. That feels horrible enough. I can't even imagine what it feels like not knowing and slowly losing hope. You know what, though? I will help you find them. Right after I go see my girlf—I mean, a friend tomorrow. I need to ask her something important."

"You mean like a proposal?" Heiðrúnn said excitedly, not missing what Aðalbjörn had been about to call Elsa. "Ooh, I just _love_ weddings! Can't I tag along?"

Aðalbjörn blushed. "No, not quite like that, but sure, you can come along," he said. "She just became my girlfriend today, though. You see, she has—well, had—ice powers, and I need to find out if she knows that her kingdom—Arendelle—has been stuck in winter for three years."

Heiðrúnn nodded, her long golden curls bobbing. "I understand," she said.

Aðalbjörn said regretfully, "I need to get back to my neighbors' house now. They have generously let me spend the night at their house after coming back from the spirit world and finding out about my parents. Will you meet me here in the morning, though, when the glaciers turn back into land? You can tell me more about yourself, and I'll help you look for your family. If I, a human boy, can find an elf, then that elf can certainly find her elf family. The boy will just be there to support her and help her."

Heiðrúnn's sky blue eyes shone. "Dear Aðalbjörn," she said, caressing the boy's cheek with her fingertips. All right, then. I will see you in the morning."

A/N: The character Lisa was inspired by the Norwegian voice of Elsa, Lisa Stokke. Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir, the Icelandic Elsa, lends her name to Aðalbjörn's now deceased (sorry!) mom, and to the preppy jerk guy Erlend mentioned in chapter 4.

Heiðrúnn is pronounced "HAYTH-roon" (voiced _th_ like in _then)_ and has something to do with a goat. Either it means goat or a goat in Norse mythology has the name; I don't remember where I read it.

Speaking of name pronunciation, I believe Aðalbjörn is pronounced something like " _ahth_ -all-pjörn" in Icelandic. That's probably REALLY wrong. The Icelandic Ö is pronounced something like the u in the word _put_.

Ískristallar I'm guessing is pronounced "ees-kris- _taht_ -lar" or something like that. Double L's in Icelandic are pronounced something like the 'tl' sound in the word _settle._

Again, I have no actual experience whatsoever with the language. Anyone who speaks Icelandic, please correct me if I'm wrong!


	12. Disappeared

"Why do you have to go so soon?" Sadie asked Aðalbjörn tearfully, looking up at him with her big turquoise eyes. Aðalbjörn and the family had just eaten breakfast, and now Aðalbjörn was on his way.

"Sadie, that's not really our business," Lisa chastised her daughter. "We must just accept that Aðalbjörn knows to do what is best for himself."

But Aðalbjörn said, "It's quite all right."

Then he bent down to the little girl's level and explained to her, "Sadie, I have a very special friend who lives far away—well, not that far—from here, and I need to go ask her something important. I know her very well, and she'll let me stay with her. I do appreciate your and your parents' hospitality, though, and I promise to write."

"Are you going to ask her to marry you?" asked Sadie, clutching onto Aðalbjörn's leg.

Aðalbjörn chuckled to himself. Why did everyone keep thinking that?!

"Sadie," Karl warned, sipping his coffee. The girl realized her mistake and let go of Aðalbjörn.

Then he turned to Aðalbjörn and said, "I'm real sorry about your parents. But it was great meeting you, and you are welcome here any time. Looking forward to your letters."

"Thank you so much for everything, Karl," Aðalbjörn said. "And I promise I'll write as soon as I can."

Lisa came up to Aðalbjörn and handed him a bag. "Here's some food and water, in case you need any on your way to your friend's house. As Karl said, you are welcome here any time if you ever need anything. Write to us to let us know you are safe." Lisa said.

"Okay, I will. And Lisa, I can never thank you enough for helping me yesterday." He reached out to hug Lisa. She held on for a long time, just like his mother would do whenever he left to spend the night at Sebastían's house.

Aðalbjörn then turned to Sadie. "I had a really great time with you," he said. And it was true—he had never thought he would have fun playing dolls. But one of Sadie's dolls had looked strangely like Elsa (A/N: no significance to the actual story, but I had to), so that could have been the reason why. "It's always nice to know I have a friend here."

"Goodbye," Sadie said sadly in her little voice, hugging Aðalbjörn appropriately this time. He returned the little girl's hug, then started heading for the front door.

"Thank you all so very much!" Aðalbjörn exclaimed before leaving the house and sprinting to the entrance to the spirit world.

Heiðrúnn was waiting for him there, but she was not alone. Grand Pabbie and all of the little trolls were with her, distraught looks on all of their faces.

"There's Aðalbjörn!" one of the little trolls exclaimed, pointing at the boy he hurried over to the elf and trolls.

"Aðalbjörn! There you are," said Heiðrúnn, running up to him and embracing him. For some reason, Aðalbjörn felt dread creeping up his spine. Why would Grand Pabbie and all the trolls be here, but not Elsa? Heiðrúnn's sudden embrace only made him more worried that something was terribly wrong.

"Grand Pabbie," Aðalbjörn said, "and all the little ones. What are you doing here?"

"Well," began Grand Pabbie, "Elsa reminded us of her name and past, which helped me to remember my name and past, which helped me to help all the little trolls to remember their names and pasts. We are all free from Hans now. I am taking the little ones back home to their parents in Arendelle, but then I must head back to the spirit world before going home. I'm afraid I have some bad news."

"What is it?" said Aðalbjörn wearily, having only heard those words yesterday.

Heiðrúnn rested her hands on Aðalbjörn's shoulders, as if to steady him. Yes, something was very wrong. Grand Pabbie took a deep breath and finally said, "This morning when the little trolls and I woke up, Elsa had disappeared without a trace, and word's going around the bathhouse pretty quickly that there's no sign of Hans, either."

Aðalbjörn fainted into Heiðrúnn's waiting arms.


	13. Go Find Your Sister

One Year Later

"Anna, it has been four years with no sign of Elsa," Kristoff said to his wife, who was in tears and glaring at him. "We can't keep searching all over the world for her. We can't keep leaving Arendelle like this, not when it's been winter for so long. We can't keep handing the responsibility of an eternally frozen kingdom over to Kai and Didier (A/N: I made up a name for the French dignitary since I don't think he has one). And we can't keep leaving Olaf and Sven behind while we search for Elsa. They need us too, you know."

"Fine. Then they can come along with us on our trips," Anna said stubbornly.

"Anna," said Kristoff sadly but determinedly, "I think it's time you considered crowning yourself the Queen of Arendelle."

Anna stamped her foot. "No, I will _not_ crown myself Queen!" she cried. "Kristoff, how dare you make such a suggestion! You just want to be the King of Arendelle, just like Hans did!"

Kristoff bristled at the harsh accusation, but he understood that Anna was upset and didn't really mean it. He went over to Anna and firmly held his arms around her. She tried to push him away but was unsuccessful.

Kristoff looked directly into Anna's eyes and said, "Anna, I promise you that my motive is not to become king. But I _am_ thinking of the kingdom. And Arendelle needs a queen again. You are the only one who can take that position."

"But what about the eternal winter, huh, Kristoff?" Anna snapped. "It must mean that Elsa is still alive somewhere out there! If she wasn't, the winter would go away! Plus people here are _dying_ because of the cold! How are we going to stop this if we don't find Elsa and bring her back, huh?"

Kristoff said, "We'll find a sorcerer. He or she should be able to end the winter."

Anna sobbed, "I don't want a sorcerer! I want Elsa!" She collapsed into Kristoff's arms, no longer angry at him, but at the unfairness of losing her sister again. "Please, just one more trip! Please! Olaf and Sven can come along this time."

Kristoff relented. "All right. One more trip. Where are we going?"

Anna answered, "Japan."

"Anna, that's a pretty far trip," remarked Kristoff. "I don't think Olaf and Sven can come. We can't risk Olaf melting, and how will we get Sven on a plane?"

Anna argued, "Sure they can come! Olaf's got his snow flurry, so he won't melt, and Sven is a very well-behaved reindeer. They'll be fine."

Kristoff was finally convinced. "All right," he said again. "I'll tell Kai and Didier that we are going on one last trip to Japan to look for Elsa. Go find Olaf and Sven and tell them to be ready to leave for Japan tomorrow morning."

"Wow, this really is in the middle of nowhere," said Kristoff, looking around him.

"Yep, that's why we're looking for Elsa here!" said Anna. "I know all her hiding tricks."

"Oh yeah? Then how come you haven't found her yet?" quipped Kristoff.

Anna punched his arm.

"Kidding, kidding!" he defended himself. "I know how much you really love Elsa and that you'll stop at nothing to find her. Your persistence really is incredible. I hope we find her, too."

Anna said, "I'm sorry for accusing you of only wanting to become king. I know you were only thinking of what's best for Arendelle."

"It's okay, Anna. I know you were upset. I was, too. I really do miss Elsa."

Sven came up behind Kristoff and nudged him. "I miss Elsa too," said Kristoff in his Sven voice.

"Let's go in that tunnel!" exclaimed Olaf. He was the only one in Arendelle who had retained his happy personality throughout the long, long winter, but after Elsa had gone missing, it had taken a long time for that happiness to return even to him.

Kristoff studied the red tunnel. "I don't know, Olaf," he said. "It doesn't look very sturdy. It looks like it's made of plaster."

"We should go in," urged Anna. "As long as we're here, we might as well search everywhere we can."

Kristoff said grudgingly, "Yeah, let's search the entire country of Japan. All right, we can go in. Go ahead, Olaf, Sven. I really hope an earthquake doesn't come now and knock this thing to rubble over our heads."

"Oh, it won't," said Anna dismissively.

The four entered the tunnel and crossed through to the other side. They covered the entirety of a huge grassy field, searching and calling for Elsa. She wasn't there.

Still determined to find her sister, Anna said, "Let's go into that amusement park."

So the four ventured on into the "amusement park". There they were met with a delicious smell. As they went deeper into the area, they noticed that they were surrounded by many little restaurants. There was lots of food cooking, but….they didn't see anyone there!

"Free food! I'm starving!" exclaimed Anna, running into one of the restaurants.

"Anna, I really don't think we should," said Kristoff, steering his wife out of the restaurant. "Besides, didn't we come here to look for Elsa?"

"Right. Elsa," said Anna.

"Excuse me?" said a young, tomboyish looking woman in what looked like a salmon pink uniform of some sort. She wore a blue apron over her pants. Her long brown hair, tied back at the ends in a sort of ponytail, hung all the way down her back.

"Yes?" said Anna.

The woman asked, "Are you from the human world?"

"Uh, yes…?" said Anna, confused. Who asked a question like that?

"Just as I thought. I might as well explain it to you concisely. You are in a spirit world. My name is Lin. I actually met a little human girl named Sen some years ago. Since you are from the human world, too, eat these berries." Lin produced a handful of red berries from her pocket. Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf each took one. Lin explained, "If you don't eat something from the spirit world, you'll disappear. But it's a good thing you didn't eat at that buffet, or you likely would have eaten until you turned into pigs." Lin wrinkled her nose in disgust.

Anna raised her hand to put her berry into her mouth, but Kristoff caught her wrist. "Anna, I don't know about this," he said doubtfully. "Can such a place really exist?"

"Kristoff, you're turning see-through!" Anna exclaimed, freeing her wrist from his grip and popping her berry into her mouth. "Quick! Eat yours!" she said to her husband.

Kristoff took one look at his now translucent arm and wasted no more time in eating his berry. Olaf ate his berry, too, and Lin handed Kristoff a second berry, which he fed to Sven.

"That's much better," said Lin when she was sure no one was in danger of disappearing anymore. "Now, why are you here?"

Anna explained, "We are looking for my sister, Queen Elsa of Arendelle. I am Princess Anna, and this is my husband Kristoff. He cuts ice for Arendelle. And the snowman is Olaf and Kristoff's reindeer is Sven. We came here from Norway to look for Elsa. She's been missing for four years."

Lin looked uncomfortable. "I really don't think she could be here," she said. "No humans have been around this part of the spirit world since Sen. But come with me to the bathhouse where I work. The boiler man, Kamajii, may know where you can find your sister. Although I really don't know if she would be in the spirit world. Is she hiding on purpose?"

"Yes! This is the perfect place to search!" exclaimed Anna.

The much more grounded Kristoff said to Lin, "Thank you for offering to help us out."

"Oh, it's no problem," said Lin, waving her hand dismissively. "I have to say, though, fifteen years ago, I never would have seen myself helping out humans. No offense. But I guess bonding with Sen has made me become a little more adventurous and open." Lin chuckled a little.

"Oh, so you're not adventurous?" inquired Olaf.

"Olaf, that's not polite," scolded Anna.

But Lin said, "It's all right. And no, not particularly adventurous, but for a long time now I have wanted to quit my job and get out of here."

"Where do you work?" asked Anna.

"In that bathhouse up there," said Lin, pointing to the magnificent red building the group was heading for. "I will ask you to promise me one thing, though: you all must hold your breath while we cross the bridge. I don't want anyone to see you. If Yubaba found out…."

"Who's Yubaba?" asked Olaf. "She sounds nice!"

Lin snorted. "Yubaba? Nice? That'll be the day! No, she's evil! She runs the bathhouse. She only cares about making money, and she steals all our names to keep us under control!"

"Oh," said Olaf, now looking a little scared.

"Time to hold your breath," said Lin as the group approached the bridge.

"Hold your breath, Sven," Kristoff instructed his reindeer. Sven nodded and complied.

The four crossed the bridge without any problems holding their breath. When they were across, Lin said, "Okay, I'm taking you to Kamajii. He'll be able to see you when I tell him you're with me. But don't worry, he's a good guy, even if he never leaves his bowls out."

Not sure what that meant, Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven followed Lin inside the bathhouse and to the boiler room.

"Kamajii?" Lin called.

An old spider man dressed in ratty gray clothes that matched his bushy gray beard turned his head. He wore thick, dark glasses, so his eyes weren't revealed. No one would be able to guess what he had been through in his long life just by looking in his eyes. Maybe he wanted it to be that way.

He was on a post, five of his six arms stretching across the room as he retrieved different herbs for different baths from cabinets in the wall. A sixth arm skillfully brought a teakettle up to his mouth so he could drink from it. Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven silently marveled at the spider man's six indefinitely stretching arms.

"Huh?" Kamajii said in his rough voice.

Lin said, "I have two humans with me, Anna and Kristoff. With them are a snowman named Olaf and a reindeer named Sven. They are coming all the way from Norway to search for Anna's sister. They believe she may be hiding away in the spirit world. Can you help them?"

Kamajii came down from his post, revealing his two green-clad little legs. He eyed the four foreigners, who he could see now that he knew they were there.

His sootball workers knew too, for the little black fuzz balls dropped the coals they were carrying toward the furnace by Kamajii's post and gathered around Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven's feet.

"How cute!" exclaimed Olaf happily, rushing to play with the sootballs.

"Stay away from the furnace, Olaf!" Anna called after the snowman, who was already heading toward the heat source with the sootballs.

Kamajii faltered, then appeared to change his mind. "All right, you can take a break!" he announced to his workers.

Then he turned to Anna and Kristoff and said, "Unfortunately, there hasn't been a human around here for fifteen years or so," he said. "If there was, probably everyone would know, since not many people would know not to take a breath across the bridge unless they were helped by a spirit, and even then most spirits get found out at some point. Lin was very smart, though, just like Haku."

"Haku?" repeated Anna.

"Dragon," explained Kamajii.

"So's Elsa!"

"Really? Interesting. Haku was Yubaba's henchman, but he quit ever since a very brave human girl named Sen helped him remember his real name. Then he was free from Yubaba. She's the boss of this bathhouse. But I haven't seen a human around here since Sen. You believe your sister is hiding intentionally?"

Anna nodded. "She is. I'm sure of it. Hopefully here."

Kamaji shook his head. "Unfortunately, there are not many good hideaways for humans in the spirit world. I can't imagine why a human would want to come here in the first place. But there is one place I can suggest you go to to look for your sister."

"Which is?" prompted Anna.

"Swamp Bottom. It's rather far from here. There's a train that goes there, but it only runs in one direction now."

"That's all right. We can walk back if need be," said Anna.

Kamajii said, "But I'm afraid that I don't have any train tickets left. I had saved some for forty years, but I gave them away to Sen."

"How will we get there?" said Anna despairingly. Had they come all this way, all the way into another _world_ , for nothing?

Lin produced a long purple rope that appeared to sparkle all on its own from her pocket. She said to Anna, "Here, take this magic rope. Use it to hitch a ride onto the back of the train. The magic will protect you—that's why it sparkles. As long as you keep at least one hand on it, it will help you to be invisible to anyone else on the train. I've had it for three years now, but I never told anybody. I was saving it so that I could finally sneak out of the bathhouse one day when the opportunity presented itself, but you can have it. I'll figure out another way to escape. Go find your sister."

"Thank you," said Anna sincerely, touched by this act of kindness. Lin nodded, produced four train tickets from her pocket, and handed them to Anna.

"Wow," breathed Kamajii. "Sen really changed you for the better, didn't she, Lin?"

"Shut up, boiler man," said Lin, but she nodded in agreement. "She really did, though. I think she changed everyone for the better. No one is quite so greedy anymore. Except Yubaba."

"Olaf, time to go," Kristoff said to the snowman, who was utterly absorbed in his hide-and-seek game with the sootballs. Olaf turned around at the sound of his name and asked, "Do we know where Elsa is?"

Anna gasped. "Goodness, Olaf, you're all black!"

"Must be the soot," said Kamajii. "Time to get back to work!" he yelled to his workers.

The sootballs said goodbye to Olaf and got back to their work throwing coals into the furnace.

Olaf looked down at his body, now black with soot, and said, "At least I'm not a yellow snowman!"

Kristoff closed his eyes at the sight. "A brown snowman," he groaned. "That's your brilliant alternative?"

Olaf giggled. "Well, not _that_ kind of brown," he said. "And I'm more black than brown."

"Come on," said Lin. "I'll take you to the train station."

"All right," said Anna. "Thank you for everything, Kamajii."

"Good luck," Kamajii called after Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven as they followed Lin out of the boiler room.

"Thanks for everything, Lin," said Anna to the weasel spirit.

"My pleasure," said Lin. "The train should be here in a few minutes. Good luck finding your sister."

"Thank you! Goodbye!" Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf (who was still covered in soot and now on Sven's back to protect him from the water surrounding the train tracks) called after Lin as she made her way back to the bathhouse. Lin raised a hand in a wave in response.

"Okay," said Anna, looking at the rope in her hands, "How are we going to get this onto the train?"

"Let me see that,'' said Kristoff, taking the rope from Anna and studying it. Of the two, Kristoff was by far the more knowledgeable about ropes, having owned a sled and all.

Kristoff looked at the rope for another second and frowned. The rope was only big enough for one person.

"Only one of us will be able to use the rope," he said sadly.

Anna was distraught. "Who will it be?" she wondered.

Kristoff thought for a moment and said, "I have an idea. I'll lasso the rope onto the train, and then you hold on tight and hitch a ride. I can ride Sven behind the train. Olaf can ride with me. Sven, buddy, do you think you can do that for us? For Elsa?"

"It's a long way, but for you guys and Elsa, I'll do anything," said Sven through Kristoff's special voice that he used for his reindeer.

"Thanks, buddy," said Kristoff, pulling a carrot out of his coat pocket and feeding it to Sven.

"Oh, look, here comes the train!" exclaimed Olaf.

A long black train came barreling in the water towards them.

"Here we go," said Kristoff determinedly, skillfully shaping the rope into a lasso. At the moment the train passed, he flung the lasso onto the flat back of the train, where the rope stuck all by itself!

"Grab on!" Kristoff said to Anna.

Anna grabbed the rope, ran as fast as she could, and using all her strength jumped up, hitching herself onto the back of the train.

"Now keep one hand on it at all times!" Kristoff shouted to be heard above the rushing wind the train produced. In one skilled move he leapt onto Sven's back behind Olaf. "Go, Sven!"

Sven immediately broke into a gallop behind the fast-moving train. It had taken so much effort that it felt like an eternity, but the actual hitching a ride onto the train and Sven galloping after it had happened so fast. The four had hardly had time to even blink before they were on their way to Swamp Bottom.

(A/N) I made a few allusions to Chihiro and Haku, but I don't think they'll play a bigger role in the story than that. Though I did think it might be nice if Chihiro had been able to change some of the bathhouse workers for the better. Maybe if another No-Face comes to take a bath, they'll treat him right this time :/

A shoutout to maripaz6 for the idea of Lin's magic rope and for reminding me how rare the train tickets actually are!


	14. Elsa's Ice Castle

"Excuse me, sir," said Aðalbjörn to the French dignitary. "Have you seen Queen Elsa around here by any chance?"

The French dignitary looked at him a little strangely. "Euh, no, I haven't," he said in a thick French accent. "No one has, not for four years. That's why it's been winter here for this long."

Aðalbjörn faltered. "Oh. All right," he said. "Thank you."

When the French dignitary had gone away, Aðalbjörn said wistfully to Heiðrúnn, who had accompanied him to Arendelle, "I guess Elsa's not in her own kingdom, either."

"So it would appear," said Heiðrúnn, slipping an arm across Aðalbjörn's shoulders. "And no sign of my family, either."

"Let's go into the woods," suggested Aðalbjörn. "I know it's remote—and cold—but if Hans really kidnapped Elsa, then maybe that's the right type of place to search for them in."

Heiðrúnn nodded in agreement, and the pair went off into the woods.

It had been a year since Aðalbjörn had found out Elsa had gone missing. She was, in all likelihood, being held captive by Hans. It had been a year since Aðalbjörn had found out his parents had died, although they had been dead for nearly two. He still missed them every day, but he no longer cried about it. He had no time to cry. He had to find Elsa.

His heart ached for her. He loved her. He wanted her back in his arms, where she belonged. He could only imagine how she felt, stranded for a whole year against her will, with no one to even interact with except for Hans.

Like that was any type of company.

Even after she had been freed from him by remembering her name, he still held her captive. That was why Aðalbjörn and Heiðrúnn had searched all over the world for her. But no Elsa or Hans anywhere.

During the search for Elsa, Aðalbjörn and Heiðrúnn had also been searching for Heiðrúnn's family. They had searched mostly in a lot of remote places, such as the woods they were in now. But they hadn't had any success with finding them, either.

Aðalbjörn was now nineteen. He had spent his nineteenth birthday searching for Elsa and failing to find her, just like any other day. Heiðrúnn had insisted they take the day off and celebrate his birthday, but he didn't want to. All he wanted to do was find Elsa.

After Elsa went missing, Grand Pabbie, now remembering his name, went back into the spirit world for several months after returning the babies to their parents to watch for Elsa and manage the bathhouse. But he had since left the job to the trustworthy Dísella when it became apparent that Elsa was not coming back, and he too returned to his home in the woods in Arendelle. Aðalbjörn had not seen him since—he and Heiðrúnn had been too busy searching all over the world for Elsa and for Heiðrúnn's family and had just a few days ago arrived in Arendelle.

Aðalbjörn returned to the human world and stayed with Lisa's family from time to time. He also wrote to them whenever he could. But this was more for their benefit than his. His time in the spirit world and the deaths of his parents had made him much more independent. He was still grateful to have Heiðrúnn as a friend, though. She was wise, loving, and like a mother to him now, more so than Lisa, fond as he was of her. He wanted to help Heiðrúnn find her family, too. Plus, he didn't like to take time off from searching for Elsa. The last year without her had been almost unbearable.

"Say," said Heiðrúnn, snapping Aðalbjörn out of his thoughts, "Couldn't you stop the winter with your fire powers?"

Aðalbjörn exclaimed, "I never thought of that! Let me see."

He shot fire out of his hands at several snow-covered trees, instantly melting the snow. The trees did not erupt in flames, but began to spread out their green leaves. Aðalbjörn felt a spark of hope.

"Maybe...maybe I can," he said in awe. "Elsa said love thaws….but I love her! Maybe I can undo her magic!"

Aðalbjörn shot his red-orange fire magic into the snow clouds that had been lining the sky for so long now. The clouds parted, revealing a bright blue sky. The air temperature went up, melting even more snow. It must have been summer!

Aðalbjörn thought of Elsa as hard as he could. He thought of Heiðrúnn, of Grand Pabbie and all the little trolls, of his dead parents, of Lisa and her family, of everyone he loved. He spread his hands up toward the sky, his magic slowly but surely neutralizing Elsa's, relieving Arendelle of the four-year-long winter.

"I did it!" Aðalbjörn exclaimed joyfully, hugging Heiðrúnn. "I stopped the winter. Elsa would be so happy!"

"Yes, yes, I'm sure she would," laughed Heiðrúnn, kissing the boy's forehead. "But you missed a spot."

"Where? Oh, I see!"

Aðalbjörn sprinted to the remaining snowy spot. "What the—what is that?" he gasped in wonder, gazing at the huge ice castle in front of him.

The ice castle was on the side of a mountain, glowing a beautiful blue, just like many of the glaciers in Iceland. But even the glaciers didn't glow like the castle. It seemed to be shaped like a snowflake. It had brilliant ice spikes coming out the top. A long ice staircase led the way to the castle's entrance.

"Wow," breathed Heiðrúnn, coming by Aðalbjörn's side and looking at the castle herself.

Aðalbjörn suddenly had an idea. "D-did Elsa build this?" he wondered, awestruck. "Come on, let's go and see if she's inside."

Aðalbjörn and Heiðrúnn made the long walk up the many ice stairs to the castle's entrance. When they entered the castle, Aðalbjörn called out, "Elsa! It's me, Aðalbjörn!"

But no one came running to greet him. Losing hope that Elsa was here, Aðalbjörn went up a second staircase. He searched that floor for Elsa, while Heiðrúnn searched the bottom floor.

"There's nothing down here!" Heiðrúnn called after an hour of searching.

"She's not up here, either!" Aðalbjörn called back. "But wait, there's a note! It says, 'Dear Anna, I knew you would find this eventually. I'm going to stay somewhere else for a while until I'm sure that my dragon powers are under control. You and Kristoff are in charge until I return. Elsa.'"

Aðalbjörn turned the note over. "And this side says, 'Elsa, please just come back. Anna.'"

"God," whispered Aðalbjörn, gazing at the note, "she was afraid of her dragon powers! But why? And was that how she ended up in the spirit world?"

"Elsa!" Aðalbjörn heard Grand Pabbie's voice calling out his girlfriend's name as the troll hurried up the stairs to the top floor of the ice castle. Evidently he had been here before; he must have searched for Elsa as well. When he saw not Elsa but Aðalbjörn, he stopped short and said, " _Aðalbjörn?_ Why are you here? Did _you_ end this winter?"

Aðalbjörn was too stunned by the note to speak.

Heiðrúnn put in, "We thought we might find Elsa in her kingdom. But so far we haven't. And yes, he did end the winter with his fire powers."

"Well done, Aðalbjörn," said Grand Pabbie. "Not just anyone's fire powers can neutralize ice powers. Usually that doesn't happen. More often than not, fire powers have no effect on ice powers except to make them grow even stronger in the owner's defense. Your powers must be incredibly strong on their own."

Aðalbjörn said, "I guess Arendelle was lucky that I touched that fire crystal. Do they always give fire powers?"

Grand Pabbie answered, "To humans, yes. Humans are not immune to their fire properties. But to trolls, who are immune, they are an important coming-of-age reward, a rite of passage. Touching them doesn't give trolls fire powers, or do anything else, for that matter."

"Grand Pabbie," said Aðalbjörn, wanting an answer no matter what it was, "Have you seen any sign of Elsa?"

Grand Pabbie said sadly, "Alas, I have not, and I'm afraid I can't stay long. Many of the baby trolls have come down with a mysterious illness, and no one has even the slightest idea what it is."

Aðalbjörn frowned. He didn't like to think of the little trolls all sick.

"What are their symptoms?" he finally asked.

Grand Pabbie sighed, "They don't add up. One day they're fine, and the next they're walking around in a daze and coughing like they've been poisoned or something. It's very strange, and possibly very serious."

Aðalbjörn asked, "Have they been doing anything to cause the illness?"

Grand Pabbie looked at the ground. "No."

"I hope they get better soon," Aðalbjörn said. "Let us know if we can help."

"Thanks, but I think we can manage. You go find Elsa."

"Okay," Aðalbjörn acquiesced, but he was deeply troubled that he couldn't think what might be wrong with the trolls.

For a minute, no one said anything. Then Heiðrúnn broke the silence.

She said, "Aðalbjörn, do you remember when I first came to the bathhouse? And how it was my first time there?"

Aðalbjörn nodded, not sure where Heiðrúnn was going with this.

Heiðrúnn said, "You may not know this, but there are different spirit worlds out there. The one you know is not the only one that exists. I have gone to several different spirit worlds looking for my family. That was what I was doing when I came to your bathhouse. The spirit worlds I've been to are fairly close to here. But perhaps we should carry the search farther out. Perhaps we could ask Grand Pabbie if he knows how to get to any spirit worlds farther away from here? Maybe Hans is keeping Elsa over there."

Aðalbjörn looked questioningly at Grand Pabbie.

"Well," said Grand Pabbie, "I do know of one that is very far away from here. My friend Zeniba lives there; I can send you to where she lives. I'm sure she would be happy to help you. But her home is in Swamp Bottom, and the quickest way to get you and Heiðrúnn there would be to take you back into our spirit world and from there get you on a train to Swamp Bottom. It's a very long journey, though."

"We'll go," Aðalbjörn said resolutely. Heiðrúnn nodded and stood by him.

"I will warn you that the train only runs one way. You'll have to find another way to get back, with or without Elsa. But hopefully with. I know you can do it, though. Oh, and the train goes underwater a lot, but don't be alarmed. It's perfectly safe. Here are two tickets. They're the only two I have, and I've been saving them for forty years." Grand Pabbie handed Aðalbjörn two train tickets. "The train station is just around the corner."

Aðalbjörn said, "All right. Thank you so much, Grand Pabbie. Heiðrúnn, let's go find Elsa and your family."


	15. We'll Always Watch Over You

Heiðrúnn and Aðalbjörn had been riding on the train for a few hours when Aðalbjörn asked the elf, "So, how did your family get washed away in the glacier run? Was there a big thaw or something?"

Heiðrúnn shook her head. "No," she said. Then she leaned a little closer toward Aðalbjörn. "Can you keep a secret? I have never told anyone what I am about to tell you."

"Yes," Aðalbjörn promised gravely with a single nod of his head, looking into his friend's eyes.

Heiðrúnn said, "My husband had a rather….questionable past. He was once a terrible crook. He stole a lot of things from innocent elves, and he even spent some time in jail. By the time I met him, he had completely changed. I wouldn't have married him if that weren't the case. But a lot of elves were after him to take back what he had stolen. I knew this, but had never imagined that they would really come for him. But one day, someone did. He was a big elf, the kind you never want to mess with. He demanded that my husband give him back his belongings—I don't remember what he had stolen from this elf—and threatened my husband with his life whether or not he did return the things."

"Did he?" asked Aðalbjörn. He was perfectly receptive—he made no judgements; he just listened as Heiðrúnn told him the whole story.

"Yes. But that wasn't enough for the elf. He continued to threaten my husband, me, and the kids with our lives. The kids were crying in pure terror, and my husband was begging for mercy. I wanted to stand up to the elf, to explain that my husband was a changed man and that he should just take his things and go, but I was terrified of what this elf might do to me. So I didn't stand up to him. I didn't do anything." A tear ran down Heiðrúnn's cheek. "The elf melted a nearby glacier—I think he had fire powers like yours—and sent the fast flowing water after us. I was instantly pulled under the water and rendered unconscious. The next thing I knew, the elf was thankfully gone. But so were my house, husband, and children. And I haven't seen them since."

Aðalbjörn was heartbroken for Heiðrúnn. "Heiðrúnn, I'm so sorry," he said, pressing her hand in his own. "That's…..horrible."

Heiðrúnn said, "The worst part about it was that I could have prevented it. I could have stood up to the elf and said something in my husband's defense. He really was a changed man. It was out of fear that I didn't stand up to the elf. Sometimes I feel like even if I did find my family, they would never forgive me for not standing up to the elf. Forgiveness is important, Aðalbjörn. It saves relationships and helps one move on from past conflicts and misunderstandings. I would forgive someone if they didn't stand up for me when they had the chance. But I feel so guilty for not standing up for my husband, for not protecting my family, when _I_ had the chance."

Aðalbjörn took all of Heiðrúnn's wise words in. He thought about them for a moment, turning them over in his mind.

He finally said, "Well, don't feel _too_ guilty. We all make mistakes. I have—many times. I believe they _would_ forgive you. And thank you for helping me realize just how important forgiveness is. You see, here's one mistake I made: I was so sure that no one in Norway would accept me because I believed in elves while most of them didn't, so I didn't want to move there. I was needlessly afraid to. I had already had a bad experience in my old school in Iceland with non-believers."

Heiðrúnn shook her head. "They really are the worst, aren't they?"

Aðalbjörn agreed, "Yeah, they are. But the family I stay with sometimes—my were-to-be next door neighbors—believes in elves. All three of them do. They introduced me to many of their friends, and guess what? They are all very nice. A few of them believe in elves, but most don't. The thing is, though, it doesn't bother me if they don't. Not anymore. I know a few of them think I'm a little weird, but what does it matter? They all have taken the time to get to know me, and they're very nice people. When I first moved to Norway, I had been so afraid that the Norwegians would be just like the 'popular' kids in Iceland that simply accepted the rumors and didn't take the time to get to know me. I feel a little guilty now. I shouldn't have been so quick to assume the Norwegians wouldn't like me just because of a few kids at my old school. I forgive those kids now. They never were and never will be important to me, and I could have saved myself so much energy."

Heiðrúnn said, "That's what I'm talking about. Doesn't it feel better to just let things go?"

Aðalbjörn nodded in agreement. "If only I had realized it before. I could have saved my parents from having their last memory of me be one of a sulky teenage boy who didn't want to move."

"Aðalbjörn?" The owner of the name looked up to face something he thought he would never, ever encounter: the ghosts of his father and mother, evidently on this train.

They looked just the same now as they had when they were alive that last afternoon, except that they were translucent, like humans about to disappear into the spirit world. They were both smiling down tenderly at their son.

"Mom!" he exclaimed, jumping up to embrace his mother, who looked like a misty shadow with all of her beautiful color. Or maybe it was just the slight mist in his eyes.

"My dear Aðalbjörn. My sweet son. You're so tall now," said the ghost of Ágústa, holding her son close to her, rubbing his back in slow circles. He could not feel it, but he knew that she was doing it. She had done it constantly for the first seventeen years of his life. Oh, how he had missed this!

"Your father wants to say hello to you, too," said Ágústa's ghost, letting go of Aðalbjörn.

"Hello, son!" Jakob's ghost, every bit as tall as the real Jakob had been, said cheerfully, clapping Aðalbjörn on the back. Aðalbjörn was sure that it would have hurt had he been able to feel it.

"Dad!" he cried, throwing his arms about the ghost.

"Well, look at you," laughed Jakob's ghost, ruffling his son's hair with one translucent arm and embracing him tightly with the other. "Your hair's still the same strawberry blond I remember it being. That's good—I was a little worried that it would darken and get redder as you got older, like mine did."

"I've missed you guys so much!" said Aðalbjörn, still not quite able to believe this was happening.

Ágústa's ghost said, "Oh, honey, we've missed you too. We're so, so sorry we had to leave you like we did. I'm so grateful you have Lisa to go to in the human world. When she first told you what had happened to us, I almost couldn't stand to watch your reaction. I wish I could have been there to comfort you in her place. What a sweet, kind woman."

"She sure is. And it's not your fault. I'm sorry for leaving you with a terrible last memory of your son as a whiny teenager. I can't believe I could have been so selfish."

"I would have done the same thing," Jakob's ghost said, shrugging. "Besides, it's not like you knew."

Ágústa's ghost said, "We understand, honey, and it's okay. We're just bummed we don't get to be with you physically as you grow up. But I just want you to know that your father and I love you, we always will, and that we have witnessed every bit of your journey, from controlling your incredible fire powers to admitting your feelings to your beautiful girlfriend Elsa."

Aðalbjörn was a tad embarrassed by this. "Oh, Mom," he laughed, shaking his head.

"She's a beauty, all right," said Jakob. "And she's nice, too, which is much more important. You'll find her. I know you will."

Aðalbjörn, lost in the wonder of this opportunity to meet his deceased parents and therefore immediately forgetting that they had seen everything he'd been through since they died, was a bit taken aback by this. "How did you know she was lost?"

"Because we're your parents and we know everything," said Jakob with a huge grin.

Aðalbjörn smiled again. Death hadn't changed his father one bit.

Ágústa, however, swatted her husband. "We've seen every bit of your journey, remember, dear?" she said to her son.

"Oh, right," Aðalbjörn whispered to himself. He was in a trance. How did he get so lucky to have the chance to finally say goodbye to his parents after they died?

He didn't want them to go. But he knew that they probably would have to soon.

Ágústa's ghost handed two small red berries to her son and embraced him one more time. "Your father and I have to get off at the next stop. When we get off, you and your friend eat these berries. You'll be crossing into another spirit world."

Aðalbjörn suddenly remembered Heiðrúnn. "Mom and Dad, wait!" he said. "Heiðrúnn, meet my parents. Mom and Dad, this is Heiðrúnn. She's an elf."

"Oh, an elf!" Ágústa and Jakob exclaimed at the same time, smiling at Heiðrúnn.

The elf smiled back, "Aðalbjörn told me all about your lives as elf hunters. Am I the first one you've found?"

"Yes, although posthumously," laughed Ágústa's ghost.

"Where are you two headed?" asked the elf.

"Oh, just going on a little spirit trip. We take trips, too, you know. What about you two? Where are you headed?"

"Swamp Bottom," said Aðalbjörn, "to look for Elsa."

"Oh, that's right, I remember! I saw you thaw that kingdom. Incredible." Ágústa gazed in awe at her son.

Aðalbjörn explained, "That's Elsa's kingdom, Arendelle. She had frozen it in an eternal winter the last time she was there. I was able to thaw it because I love her. My love undid the magic she made when she froze it over. She has—well, had—ice powers similar to my fire powers."

Ágústa asked, "Why did she freeze Arendelle?"

"Before I came back home for the first time,"—an expression of pain twisted both mother and son's faces for a moment—"Elsa told me the story of how she had accidentally revealed her powers, which she had fought so hard to keep under control, to the public. She had gotten so upset that she ran away from Arendelle, involuntarily freezing the entire kingdom in the process. When I was searching for Elsa in Arendelle, I found a note from her to her sister in this absolutely _magnificent_ ice castle she built, in which she had written that she was going to stay somewhere else for a while until she got her dragon powers under control. So that must have been how she ended up in the spirit world! I wonder what she had to fear about her dragon powers? Anyway, she didn't remember Arendelle until I helped her remember her name because her evil boss Hans stole all her memories from her. Then again, you guys already know all this," Aðalbjörn said to his parents.

Jakob said proudly, "Well, it sure is a good thing that she had you to get them back."

Ágústa agreed, "Yes, it is. Look at the amazing young man he's become. And he didn't even need us to raise him to be that person."

Aðalbjörn disagreed, "Yes, I did. Thank you guys for everything. I couldn't have asked for better parents, even if I only had them for seventeen years."

"Aðalbjörn, your father and I love you. We have to get off now, but we will see you again someday. Hopefully not for a long time though. Go find Elsa, and live your happy, incredible lives together. Your father and I will always be watching over you. We're so proud of who you have already become. Such a strong, noble young man. And so very handsome. Goodbye for now." Ágústa embraced her son one last time, turning her cheek up for him to kiss just like in old times.

"Bye, son. We love you," said Jakob, embracing Aðalbjörn and clapping him on the back again.

"I love you guys too. Goodbye," said Aðalbjörn after his parents as they got off the train.

Aðalbjörn watched his parents until he could no longer distinguish them from the rest of the spirits among them. It hurt him to see them go, but he knew that was how it had to be.

He and Heiðrúnn sat back down, and then Aðalbjörn looked out the window for a long time, still unable to believe what had just happened.


	16. The Forgotten Prince

"Here we are! Swamp Bottom!" Olaf cried, jumping off of Sven's back and twirling around in a full circle.

Kristoff dismounted Sven after him. Anna had just launched herself off of the train a minute ago, and the magic rope was now safely tucked away inside Kristoff's coat pocket.

"What do you think, buddy?" Kristoff asked his reindeer. Sven nudged his owner.

"It's nice, but I'm here to find Elsa, not go exploring," said Kristoff in his Sven voice. "Carrot?"

"Good boy, Sven. Here you go," said Kristoff, producing a carrot from his pocket. He bit slightly more than half off, then fed the rest to Sven.

"Hey, you got the bigger half," Sven complained through Kristoff's voice after eating his share of the carrot.

"Sorry, buddy." Kristoff shrugged.

"Elsa!" Anna called, looking around the dark Swamp Bottom for her sister.

No response.

"Elsa! Are you here?" Anna shouted louder this time.

No response.

"ELSA!"

Someone finally came.

Well, not some _one,_ but some _thing._

In the distance, a bright white light shone. It seemed to be beckoning to the group, appearing to come closer and then finally stop, as if waiting for them. It also appeared to be bouncing up and down.

"Let's follow that light!" exclaimed Anna.

As the four went after the light, Anna said, "I never did get to ask more about the dragon. Haku, was that his name? What was so important about his name that he was free from Yubaba—I think that's right—when he remembered it? And how did he forget it in the first place? I guess we'll never know. Oh well. I just thought maybe it would clue us in about Elsa since she's a dragon and Haku was a dragon."

Kristoff said, "Didn't Lin say Yubaba stole her workers' names to keep them under control or something like that?"

"Yeah," said Anna. "Something like that. But it would have been nice to know more."

The group followed the light down a long driveway to a cozy-looking little cottage. When they reached the house, the light jumped up and down as if to celebrate. The light was a lamp on one foot!

"Thank you!" said Anna to the lamp, preparing to knock on the door. The lamp bowed in response.

"Anna," said Kristoff, "we can't just go in someone else's house."

Anna retorted, "But what if it's Elsa's house?"

She knocked on the door. Seconds later, it slowly creaked open.

"Why, hello there! My name is Zeniba. Who are you?" said the kindly old woman who answered the door.

The old woman was very short, but had a very big head. All of her thick white hair was piled into a bun on the top of her head, pinned into that style by a red barrette. She had on big yellow stud earrings. She wore a blue silk dress and had a very kind face.

Anna answered, "I am Princess Anna of Arendelle. This is my husband Kristoff, and this is his reindeer Sven. And the snowman is Olaf. He's a little dirty. Sorry."

"Well," said Zeniba, "I'm sure we can find a way to get him cleaned up. It's very nice to meet all of you. I'd love to hear more about you, but first, come on in and make yourselves comfortable!"

Zeniba led the group of four, even Sven, into her kitchen. "Sit down," she said. "I'll make some tea."

Zeniba apparently did not live alone in her house. In one corner of her tidy kitchen, a strange masked spirit appeared to be spinning threads at a giant wooden wheel. And sitting at the long table in the center of the room was a young man with medium length dark brown hair poring studiously over a book, from which he looked up when he heard the guests.

"Hello," he said rather formally, but not unkindly, setting his book aside and pushing himself up out of his chair to greet them. "My name is Thor. What brings you here?"

Anna said, "We're in the spirit world to look for my long-lost sister. Zeniba invited us to stay here. We were hoping my sister might be here. I'm Anna, by the way. This is my husband Kristoff and his reindeer Sven. And the snowman is Olaf."

A fascinated smile crept onto Thor's face. "A living snowman?" he said. "Wow, now I _have_ seen everything."

Olaf came closer to Thor to give him a better look. "Hi!" Olaf said cheerfully.

"Why, hello there! It's so nice to meet you. But may I ask, how are you a black snowman?"

Anna and Kristoff could tell from the tone of Thor's voice that he was genuinely interested in the snowman, and not just talking down on him or playing along. They looked at each other, smiled, and hung back.

Olaf explained very seriously, "I got covered in soot playing with some new friends by the furnace. Does Zeniba have a snow shower here?" he asked. "I sure could use one!"

"Well, she doesn't have a snow shower," said Thor, "but I think I can fix you up right if you give me a minute."

He turned back to his book on the table and flipped through it for a while. "Let's see," he said to himself, "which one was it…? Aha!" He scanned the page for a moment and took a magic wand out of the pocket of his long navy blue overcoat, pointing it at Olaf.

Anna, Kristoff, and Sven watched in shock as Thor whispered something inaudible, all while keeping the wand aimed at Olaf. With a flick of the wand, the snowman was cleaned of the soot. He stood rooted to the spot looking at himself in reverent shock, whiter than ever.

"Thank you!" Olaf finally exclaimed, jumping up and down.

. "My pleasure," said Thor, smiling at the snowman.

"How….how did you do _that?_ " Anna could hardly believe her eyes.

"Zeniba taught me. She's my teacher. I'm training to be a wizard," Thor explained.

When Anna and Kristoff still didn't move, he said, "Come sit down with me and make yourselves at home. You can tell me all about yourselves, and I'll tell you about myself, if you wish to hear."

Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf all sat down at the long wooden table with him. Sven stood as close to Kristoff as possible.

Kristoff said, "I'm afraid I didn't catch your name before. Could you remind me what it was?"

"Thor. Thor Friedrich Westergaard. Or Prince Thor of the Southern Isles, if you wish, though I haven't used that title in years."

Anna shrunk into her chair and gasped. "You...do you….know _Hans?"_

"Hans? Of course," said Thor. He tried to appear as neutral as possible, though Kristoff, not overburdened with fear like Anna and generally the more perceptive one anyway, noticed that Thor flinched slightly at the mention of Hans' name, that his mild eyes, which were dark gray like diamonds, suddenly turned cold. "He's my older brother."

Anna said, "Hans never told me he had a younger brother. Just twelve older ones."

That got Thor's attention. "How do _you_ know Hans?" he asked, appearing a little concerned.

Kristoff wondered what—or whom—the apparent concern was for.

Anna explained how she was the princess of a nearby kingdom called Arendelle, how she had met Hans and gotten engaged to him, about Elsa's ice powers, about their lonely, isolated childhoods, about their fight at the coronation, how Elsa had struck her in the heart with her powers, and how Hans had tried to kill both her and Elsa.

Thor listened intently to every word, and when Anna was finished, he shook his head sadly and said, "I hadn't much hope that he would stop doing evil things. It seems he's only gotten worse since I left."

"What do you mean you left?" asked Anna.

Zeniba came by with the tea, but figuring a private conversation was going on, set it on the table and led the masked spirit at the wheel out of the room.

Thor said, "You're from Arendelle, right? Did you ever hear of the fourteenth prince of the Southern Isles?"

"No," replied Anna. "As I said before, Hans only mentioned having older brothers, and no one else ever mentioned anyone younger than him in the royal family."

Thor scoffed. "Typical of them to go on like I never even existed," he said. "Well, I was that youngest prince. Fourteenth in line for the throne. I guess you could call me the forgotten prince. As you may already know from Hans, our older brothers didn't treat us very well. That's putting it mildly—it was like the younger ones, eighth or so and up, weren't even there. Especially Hans and myself. My parents were equally bad. Hans and I only had each other, much like you and your sister did. For many years, we were each other's rocks. But when Hans realized that there was virtually no chance of him getting the throne—he was twelve at the time; I was ten—he began to become very bitter. He slowly turned on me; he would mercilessly pick on me because I was the only one there smaller than him. For a long time I just took it, but eventually I couldn't anymore. I would go to our parents, but they would never do anything about it. They wanted nothing to do with either of us."

"No," said Anna.

"Afraid so," said Thor.

"That's horrible. I guess your older brothers really were that bad, then. I always thought Hans was exaggerating. You know, to make me feel bad for him."

"No, he wasn't exaggerating," said Thor sadly. "Although my motive is not to make you feel sympathy for me. His probably was. But our older brothers would either pick on us or act like we didn't exist, which only made Hans angrier and angrier. His picking on me escalated to outright verbal abuse. I won't trouble you with what he said to me. With my only support person now against me, my other brothers ignoring me, and my parents wanting nothing to do with me, I didn't see any reason why I had to stay in the Southern Isles. Plus I knew there was no chance of me getting the throne, and besides it wasn't really what I wanted. I had always been fascinated by magic. So at the age of twelve, I ran away from home."

"Where did you go?" asked Anna, her eyes full of sympathy and anger on the wizard-in-training's behalf.

"I don't even remember anymore. It seems like I've been all over the world. It was hard fending for myself at first, but eventually I learned to do it. I traveled mostly on foot, you know, with the exception of venturing overseas on my own. Two years ago I stumbled upon the spirit world and Zeniba's home by pure chance and she took me in. She's a very powerful witch, and when she learned of my fascination with magic, she offered to train me to become a wizard. So, here I am right now."

"Wow," said Anna. "I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that. Hans is just _awful_ , isn't he?"

"He's difficult, all right," agreed Thor. "And he _hates_ me for leaving him to be last in line for the throne instead. I haven't seen him in thirteen years, but I just know he does. He talked to me about marrying into the throne all the time when we were younger, but I never imagined he would go to such extreme measures as he did to you and your sister's kingdom Arendelle. I wish I had been around to stop him."

Anna was touched. Clearly, Thor was nothing like Hans. "It's not your fault, so don't feel bad," she said. "It happened, and we've moved on. I do wish I could see my sister again, though."

"You say your sister has been lost for a long time?"

"Four years, and it isn't even the first time she's run away," said Anna, looking down at the table. She looked like she didn't want to talk anymore.

"I'm so sorry to hear that," said Thor. Both Anna and Kristoff could tell he meant it. "Any idea why she might have run away?"

Kristoff gave Anna a break from talking and explained, "Elsa discovered she could turn into a dragon four years ago. Afraid that Arendelle wouldn't accept her, that they would be afraid of her dragon powers as they were of her ice powers, she ran away. It seemed at first like she was planning to return eventually—she had left Anna a note—but it's been four years now with no sign of her."

"I see," said Thor. He seemed lost in thought, as though he were trying to figure something out.

At last he said, "We'll talk about this more tomorrow. You must be tired, and your tea must be cold. Why don't you have that right now?"

When everyone had finished their tea, Zeniba and the masked spirit returned into the kitchen.

"Oh! Sorry to kick you out of your kitchen for so long. How rude of us, and we just got here!" exclaimed Anna to the kindly witch.

Zeniba laughed. "Don't worry about it," she said. "The guest room to the right is all ready for you and Kristoff. The guest room straight ahead should do for Olaf and Sven. No-Face," she called to the masked spirit, who looked like a black ghost, "do you think you could set up the second guest room for Olaf and Sven?"

"Uh. Uh," No-Face grunted with two nods of his masked head, before whisking away to set up the guest room.

"Zeniba, thank you so much for putting us up for the night." said Anna. "Actually, do you mind if we stay here while we look for my sister? You, Thor, and No-Face are most kind."

"Of course you can," said Zeniba, "and I want you to call me Granny from now on."

(A/N): For any stray opera fans that may have wandered onto this story, Thor's long dark blue overcoat is a reference to the character Colline's coat in _La Bohème._


	17. Elsa's Boyfriend

"And he's so different from Hans, even though they both grew up dealing with the same situation!" said Anna of Thor as she and Kristoff were walking back to Zeniba's house after running some errands to repay the benevolent witch for her kindness.

"I guess it was because he ran away, lived on his own for so long,'' said Kristoff. "He saw no reason why he had to stay in that situation, so he just left. That's the option I would've chosen. I've also always been on the independent side. Hans, on the other hand, wanted so badly to become king that he stayed in a harmful and rather hopeless situation and allowed himself to become filled with bitterness and anger. When he finally realized there was no way for him to overtake the throne in his kingdom, he came after Arendelle."

"That's unbelievable," said Anna. She had been greatly disturbed last night to hear how badly Hans had treated his younger brother when they were children. "Poor Thor. Growing up in the Southern Isles must've been difficult enough on its own. They just sound like _awful_ people over there—so snotty and power-hungry. But on top of that, Hans treated Thor so badly, and all Thor did was support Hans and asked nothing more than for him to reciprocate! They only had each other, after all."

Kristoff sadly nodded his assent.

Five minutes later, Anna and Kristoff were both back at Zeniba's homey little cottage. When they reached the door, they heard Olaf's shouts and gasps of joy and wonder as Thor attempted several magic tricks he was currently studying. This was to be expected; the snowman had quickly grown enamored of Thor's magic, even if the wizard-in-training wasn't always instantly successful in performing whatever magic he was trying to learn that day. What Anna and Kristoff did _not_ expect, however, was the lean strawberry blond boy that opened the door to let them inside when Anna knocked.

The boy was somewhat tall (though not as tall as Kristoff or Thor), and broad-shouldered, although still rather slim, with lanky muscles. His medium-length, slightly wavy hair was a luscious shade of strawberry blond that would appear a mere red from a distance. His body was obviously not finished developing, and the innocence of his light green eyes indicated that although he had likely had more than his fair share of struggles in life so far, neither was his character. And for some peculiar reason he had on a pair of bright red gloves, even though it was the middle of summer. The gloves reminded Anna of Elsa's gloves.

"Are you Anna and Kristoff?" Aðalbjörn inquired, a big, genuine smile spreading across his face. "It's so nice to finally meet you in person! I feel like I already know you like old friends."

"Oh, trust me, we're not old friends," said Kristoff gruffly, instantly on guard. Who was this strange redheaded bean pole of a guy who had come prancing over to Zeniba's and would probably get in the way of their search for Elsa?

"Oh!" Aðalbjörn was flustered; he bristled at Kristoff's tone. "Forgive me for forgetting to introduce myself in my excitement. I'm Aðalbjörn Aaron Jakobsson. I'm here with my friend Heiðrúnn. She's an elf, by the way. We just got here an hour or so ago; Zeniba kindly offered to let us stay here while we search for my missing girlfriend and for Heiðrúnn's long-lost family."

A blonde woman in a white dress sitting at the table with Zeniba raised her hand in a wave.

"Uh-huh," said Kristoff sarcastically. "And are you also carrying out an extremely important search for a long-lost queen of an eternally frozen kingdom?"

Aðalbjörn was uncomfortable; he couldn't imagine why Kristoff seemed to be sizing him up. Elsa herself had described Anna as "sweet"; Kristoff was Anna's husband, so Aðalbjörn wouldn't have expected Anna to be married to someone with such a gruff, unpersonable, and honestly rather unpleasant demeanor. But he held his ground and said without attitude, "I am, actually. I've been searching for Queen Elsa of Arendelle for a year."

Now it was Kristoff's turn to bristle; this was definitely what he _least_ expected to hear. He froze, gaping at Aðalbjörn. Olaf turned his attention away from Thor long enough to watch Anna and Kristoff, clearly anxious to see how they would react to meeting Elsa's boyfriend. Sven trotted over to Kristoff and nudged him slightly toward Aðalbjörn as if to say, "Why don't you give him a chance?"

But watching Anna's reaction to Aðalbjörn's words was like watching the birth of an entirely new person. The changes that took place were almost as evident as they would have been had she transformed into a dragon like her sister.

For the first time in what seemed like forever, Anna felt _happy_ again.

Her eternally (well, that word can only be used to mean for as long as the eternal winter had been going on) slumped shoulders rolled right back up. She was uplifted; no longer was she slumped in her aching desperation to find Elsa. Finding her seemed an infinitely more real possibility now with Aðalbjörn standing in front of her. Her whole face, always dejected to some degree for so long now, was suddenly illuminated with the beautiful light that is pure joy. Her eyes flickered like hot deep turquoise flames. Her spirits, as indicated by her abruptly lifted eyes, soared. Here was someone who knew Elsa, who could help find her!

Kristoff gazed in silent wonder at his wife, instantly recognizing the Anna that he knew and loved, the joyful, effervescent Anna that had been gone as long as Elsa had.

"She's my sister!" Anna cried, jumping up higher than even Olaf. "You know her!"

She smiled warmly at Aðalbjörn. "I'm Anna," she introduced herself. "This is my husband Kristoff. You must have already met his reindeer, Sven, and—wait a minute, where'd Olaf go?" The snowman was nowhere to be seen.

"Here!" called Olaf cheerfully, appearing beside Anna and throwing his stick arms about her. Taken aback but having had her elation further whetted by meeting Aðalbjörn, Anna returned the giddy snowman's hug.

"Thor finally figured out how to make me disappear!" Olaf exclaimed, dancing joyfully around Zeniba's kitchen. "Also, did you know that Aðalbjörn is Elsa's boyfriend?"


	18. Sharing Stories

"All right, that's it," said Kristoff angrily, directing his attention to the strawberry blond, who shrunk back from his malicious gaze in fear. In two long strides Kristoff had poor Aðalbjörn pressed against the wall. Aðalbjörn held his hands up as if Kristoff were holding him at gunpoint.

"I swear, I didn't do anything to her!" Aðalbjörn protested, staring at the mountain man with a half-terrified, half-offended expression. Beads of perspiration began to form on Aðalbjörn's forehead; he even whimpered ever so slightly. But Kristoff didn't back down.

"Okay, you little redheaded punk," said the large blond mountaineer quietly, _dangerously_. "The joke's over. Where have you been hiding Elsa?"

Aðalbjörn, seeing how tough Kristoff thought he was, suddenly realized that he himself was no one to mess with either. While he wasn't going to start a break-down-the-trees faceoff or a prank war with Kristoff or anything, he _would_ show him that _no one_ had _any_ business pushing him around. Aðalbjörn would not allow it. He'd fought Hans for a job, fought his fire powers, fought his way onto too many international flights in an attempt to find his hapless girlfriend to not have learned how to stand up for himself.

He pushed Kristoff away from him. Not hard enough to hurt him (or with any intention of doing so), but with enough force to get Kristoff off of him. He was irked by Kristoff's 'redheaded punk' insult, but decided it wasn't worth it to argue over the color of his hair.

He said very calmly, "Yes, I am Elsa's boyfriend, Aðalbjörn, and I've been searching all over the world and the spirit world for her for a year. Come in and I'll tell you everything I can about Elsa—I know it's been much longer since you've seen her. I was among the last to see her before her mysterious disappearance."

"Ooooh, Elsa has a boyfriend!" Anna squealed. "Tell me, Aðalbjörn, how did you melt Elsa's frozen heart? Just kidding, it's not frozen! Elsa has a very warm and courageous heart. But still, tell me: how did you steal it?"

"Well, I don't know," Aðalbjörn laughed shyly, relaxing slightly as he realized that at least Anna approved of him. "She kinda did steal mine too…" He sighed ever so slightly.

"Awwww, he's a sweetheart all right!" gushed Anna. "Perfect for Elsa. Why can't Kristoff be more like you?"

"HEY!" exclaimed Kristoff with an offended air.

Anna kissed her husband's cheek. "Oh, you know I'm just kidding. You're _very_ sweet too, Kristoff. Do you remember the time that—"

"Okay, that's enough," Kristoff cut her off, blushing. "I get it; you were just joking."

"That's right," said Anna happily. Then she turned back to Aðalbjörn and said, "I can't believe how perfect you are for Elsa. I can just tell already. And you are _extremely_ handsome."

Anna obviously meant it in a platonic, almost motherly way, but she didn't always know how to appropriately express her feelings using words, and it was enough to make Aðalbjörn blush redder than his hair.

"Oh, well, um...thank you?" he laughed again, resting a hand on the back of his neck as he looked at the ground, just as he had done after he had grabbed Elsa by the waist and spun her around. Then he was silenced by the overwhelming realization that that was two whole years ago now.

"I love love!" exclaimed Olaf, jumping up and down repeatedly.

"Well, come sit down with us," Aðalbjörn, having already composed himself, invited Anna and Kristoff, who obliged. "Heiðrúnn and I are having tea with Zeniba and No-Face, but Thor and I were talking about Elsa and Hans a while ago."

Anna inquired, "Why were you talking about Hans?"

She was perplexed; she slowly began to wonder if Hans was in any way relevant to Elsa's disappearance. She didn't want him to be. She silently _willed_ him not to be. Hans was supposed to be in the past, forgotten. It had taken her long enough to psychologically heal from the trauma her heart had suffered from his betrayal, and then Elsa had gone missing right after Anna had finally put the past behind her. Anna didn't want to reopen any closing wounds. But she was developing an exponentially increasing dread that Hans had in fact had something to do with Elsa's four-year-long disappearance.

"It's a long story," said Aðalbjörn. "Would you be willing to sit here with me and hear all of it? I'd like to hear your side of the story, too, if that's okay. Thor's told me his story, and I understand he's told you, too?"

Aðalbjörn anxiously awaited their verbal and nonverbal responses. Anna seemed very loving and receptive, if a tad awkward, but he was afraid Kristoff wouldn't listen to him.

But then he thought to himself, _Remember, forgiveness. And remember what Elsa told you. Sometimes it's best not to care about what other people say. Besides, your main concern should be finding Elsa, not worrying about whether or not Kristoff hurts your feelings. He's probably a nice guy deep down. He'll come around eventually. And maybe you and Anna and Kristoff can help each other. It's obvious that they've been working incredibly hard to find Elsa, too. Maybe they've even been searching longer than you have._

But there was nothing for Aðalbjörn to fear. Anna promptly gave her word that she would listen to his whole story, even if it took all day. And Kristoff promised him in an equally sincere, if somewhat begrudging, tone of voice that he and Anna would tell their side of the events after Aðalbjörn told his.

So Aðalbjörn began to recount to Anna and Kristoff everything that had happened to him in the past two years. He told them about how he had been afraid to move to Norway from Iceland because of the elf issue, how he had ended up in the spirit world and met Elsa, and how she had gotten her name stolen by Hans, at which time he was interrupted by Anna's gasp of horror.

"He...stole her name?" she croaked out, looking like she might cry. She could hardly get the words out as it was.

"Yes. Anna and Kristoff, I'm terribly sorry. Some of this might be hard for you to hear. I know how you both love Elsa."

"A spirit world? Is she here?'' Kristoff asked urgently.

Aðalbjörn shook his head regretfully and said, "I'm afraid I wouldn't know. I'm hoping so; that's why I'm here. But Elsa and I both worked for Hans in a different spirit world; the entrance was by my home in Norway. As Heiðrúnn here enlightened me, this spirit world is not the only one that exists. Elsa and I worked for Hans at a bathhouse for the spirits. Hans was the bathhouse manager; to keep all of his workers under his control, he stole our names and gave us new ones. My new name was Björn; Elsa's was Ískristallar, or just Ís for short."

"Ís? Like the Icelandic word for _ice?"_ Anna was infuriated. How dare Hans?

"Clever," Kristoff spat, clearly meaning the opposite, his voice full of contempt. But it was evident that he felt the contempt towards Hans, not Aðalbjörn.

Aðalbjörn continued, "My first night there, I was put to work supervising the baby trolls that collected herbs for the baths. The trolls were so sweet, and such hard workers. And what interesting appearances they had! They all looked like they were made of rocks!"

Aðalbjörn noted a sudden change in Kristoff's expression; his new one was what Aðalbjörn could only describe as one of shocked relief and immense concern at the same time. But not able to conjure up any explanation in his (very quick) head for why this might be, Aðalbjörn once again commenced telling his story. "My employer—who was also a rock troll—was named Grand Pabbie."

Now Kristoff looked really worried. He said disbelievingly, "Grand Pabbie and the baby trolls were in a _spirit world!?_ How did they get there? Everyone—well, the parent trolls and myself—wondered where they had gone! We've been so worried about them."

Aðalbjörn asked Kristoff, "How do you know Grand Pabbie?"

With no trace of feelings of mistrust evident on his face now, Kristoff responded, "Before I married Anna, I lived in the mountains in Arendelle and the trolls were my family. Grand Pabbie had helped to save Anna from Elsa's magic twice: once after Anna was struck in the heart, and another time when they were kids. Grand Pabbie and the babies had disappeared just when Anna and I were getting married. Grand Pabbie was supposed to be the best man, but he never showed up. No one in Arendelle has seen him or the baby trolls since. I'm sorry, I'm interrupting, aren't I? Please continue."

"It's all right; I understand. My first night there, one of the trolls handed me a fire crystal he had earned—Kristoff, I'm assuming you know what I'm talking about—and when I touched it, it gave me fire powers similar to the ice powers Elsa had."

"What do you mean _had?"_ Anna asked. "You mean she doesn't have them anymore? Can she still turn into a dragon?"

Aðalbjörn gravely explained, "She transformed into a dragon just as she was leaving the last time I talked to her, but she doesn't have her ice powers anymore. We think Hans took them from her."

Anna's eyes filled with angry tears. "That piece of—" she began, but was promptly cut off by Kristoff.

Kristoff asked, "But how and why did he take her ice powers?"

Thor, who had since joined the group at the table, as had Olaf and Sven, said, "Hans must've taken up sorcery. It's the only way to deprive someone of elemental powers."

"How do you know?" Kristoff asked.

"I've been studying elemental powers such as Aðalbjörn's fire powers and Elsa's ice powers for quite some time now. I myself have thunderstorm powers."

"You do?" Olaf gasped, leaning with reverence across the table toward the wizard-in-training. In fact, Olaf leaned so far across the table that precipitation from his snow flurry began to softly but surely fall on the tea and food everyone was sharing.

"Not now, Olaf," chided Kristoff. "And look what you did to the food."

The snowman looked apologetic and crestfallen as he lowered his little body back into his chair.

"Oh, it's quite all right," said Zeniba, picking up an extra napkin and wiping up the snowflakes that had fallen on the table.

"I'll show you later, okay? You and Sven," Thor said to Olaf with a little smile, making Olaf instantly cheer up.

"Anyway," Thor continued, "These elemental powers are all a matter of will. The quicker you come to accept your powers, the easier it is to get them under control, as you may already know. I had always been fascinated by mine, and besides no one in the Southern Isles paid attention to me, so hiding my powers and learning to control them was fairly simple. No one would suspect the youngest prince of starting raging thunderstorms that would turn the sky purple-black and produce hail that beat the palace shillings loose. Man, did my dad hate having to get those repaired! But forget about that now. Anna, you know how since Elsa was made to be afraid of her powers, she had an even more difficult time controlling them?"

Anna nodded. "Yes."

Thor explained, "Zeniba taught me that the game of will that one who has elemental powers must play helps one gain more strength of mind."

"And?"

Zeniba added, "The psychological effects of dealing with the struggle of controlling the powers help one to gain more strength of mind. So, the powers become part of one's will. They are indeed a very significant piece of who one is. To lose one's powers is to lose a piece of one's will. Not everyone has elemental powers, obviously; in fact, they're very rare, but those who do must rely on them at times, for example in times of war. Fire and ice, two very powerful elements, make great weapons. There's nothing quite as satisfying as starting a fire mid-war or freezing your enemy in position as they're about to shoot you. Water powers are an excellent tool as well; you can wash your opponent clear to the next world. Thunder and lightning can be used to signify the start of a war, and of course weather has the potential to be so powerful and dangerous it kills. That's why it's so important to get these powers under control; they can prove fatal to the owner or the owner's loved ones if they are not used properly."

"Oh, I know it,' said Anna emphatically, "but I never knew that Elsa would have to rely on her powers so much. I thought that once she got them under control, she just used them whenever she felt like it."

"Oh, no," Zeniba shook her head. "Elsa's powers would have been of great service and protection to her in that bathhouse. Surely they had become a crucial part of who she is. That poor girl. I hope she's managing all right without them."

To Anna, the thought of Elsa being stripped of her powers and therefore missing both her greatest defense and her will was like a stone dropping into her stomach. The thought was so emotionally upsetting to Aðalbjörn that it almost hurt him physically to think it; he considered leaving the room to regain his composure if necessary. He pressed his palms to his forehead; Heiðrúnn noticed this and put a hand on his shoulder. Kristoff wrapped a supporting arm around Anna's waist.

The thought of Elsa alone and vulnerable was equally disturbing to every one else; no one said anything. They didn't dare voice any of their worst fears. The atmosphere was so tense and heavy it was as if the group was surrounded by a fog so thick it was nearly palpable. For several minutes the entire table remained completely silent.


	19. Aðalbjörn's Epiphany

"Well," began Anna, "it just happened out of nowhere. One day she and I got into a big argument all because I let her in on my plans to have a baby, and she said didn't think it was a good idea because she was worried that the baby, her nephew or niece, would have her powers. She had come to accept her own powers so she could control them, but she feared the child would react the same way she did and freeze everything he or she touched. I was furious, but I didn't want to have a big fight with her. So I told her firmly but calmly that it was _my_ life and that if I wanted a baby and Kristoff agreed, I would have one, to which Elsa responded she wouldn't allow a child with ice powers to live under _her_ roof. I completely lost my cool. I lashed out at her, calling her a soulless hypocrite and yelling that she shouldn't assume that my child would have the same doubts she did, because I would raise him or her to know much better. The next thing I knew, a larger-than-life white dragon was roaring ice crystals right in my face!"

Anna stifled a sob and said, "The guilt I feel is profound. Unbearable. Those were the last words I said to her. A few seconds later she transformed back into a human and said, 'Arendelle won't accept me. They won't understand, just like they didn't understand my ice powers.' And then she darted off into the woods, freezing Arendelle in an eternal winter for the second time. And she never returned, although she did leave me a note in this ice castle she built telling me that Kristoff and I would be in charge while she stayed somewhere else for a while. After a month, I left a note in her ice castle telling her to just come back. But she hasn't. I have to get back to Arendelle soon! Who knows how many more people have died from the cold since we left?"

Anna broke down crying in Kristoff's arms.

Aðalbjörn let out a shaky sigh, looking like he might be about to cry himself. It had been a long, arduous day just getting to the spirit world, and he—he hated to think it—he was _sick_ of searching for Elsa. He wanted her back in his arms _right now!_ He wanted to find Hans, throttle him if not do something more violent, and be at Elsa's side in an instant. He just wasn't the same Aðalbjörn anymore, no, not in the absence of the love of his life.

"I don't know what she was so afraid of," said Anna tearfully. "I'm sure Arendelle would accept her if she just _explained_ to them that she was a dragon, and she didn't know how or why, but she had no intention of eating people, if that was what she thought everyone would object to. You know, like what if she organized a ball which everyone was to attend, and she explained the situation there? I would have stood by her side the whole time, ready to advocate for her whenever necessary."

"I guess she just has irrational fears sometimes because she's afraid of what people will say about her," said Heiðrúnn. I'm the same way. That was how I lost my family, after all. I won't get into details right now."

Anna protested, "But I thought she had gotten over that after what she went through with her ice powers!"

Kristoff took her hand in both of his. "She'd gotten a lot better with that, but sometimes she still had trouble feeling confident in herself and trusting that you are capable of making things work out. Do you remember how she hardly ever wore that dress you gave her for her birthday because she was afraid it looked bad on her? Well, she was afraid our child would have her powers and cause destruction—I disagreed; I was ready to argue your side, Anna—so she was already upset. This only made her more fearful when she discovered she could transform into a dragon, so that was why she ran away. It was just by a very unfortunate fluke that she ended up in the spirit world and got stuck working for Hans. I bet that's why she never came back."

"I think you're right, Kristoff," Aðalbjörn said with a subtle nod. "Hans erased all her memories from her mind. I'm sure she would have come back if she hadn't been robbed of her memories of you, Anna, and her home. I'm truly sorry for you, and I hope we can find Elsa. Not just for me, but for you, so you can be reunited. Mostly, I want to find her for her. I can't imagine what the past year being held captive by Hans has been like for her. It hurts too much to try to imagine it for too long. Any picture of that my mind can conjure up is far too vivid for me to handle."

"Wow," Kristoff whispered, awestruck. "I hope we find Elsa, too, so she can get reunited with you. It's obvious how much you love her; you're probably the only other person in the universe besides me and Anna who would sacrifice years of his life searching for Elsa. I've always admired Anna's persistence, and I see now that you have that same quality. Elsa deserves a man as noble as you to be her husband. I apologize for my, er, behavior earlier."

Aðalbjörn grinned at Kristoff, touched. "Thanks, Kristoff; you have no idea how much that means to me," he said. "I do love Elsa a lot; she's my whole life." His green eyes burned with passion as he said, "We _will_ find Elsa. With people as strong as you, Anna, and myself looking out for her, Elsa's in excellent hands. Speaking of hands, let's shake."

Kristoff frowned. "No, no, none of that," he said.

Then he rose out of his chair and came around the table to Aðalbjörn. "Stand up," Kristoff said a little shyly.

Aðalbjörn, confused, complied. Much to his astonishment, Kristoff crushed him to his chest in a rather painful man hug. Aðalbjörn awkwardly returned the man hug, hoping he patted Kristoff's back hard enough but not too hard. This was an interaction he had never had before, not even with Sebastían.

"You're forgiven, man. Don't worry about a thing," said Aðalbjörn as Kristoff let go of him.

"You're a good man. I like you," responded Kristoff, going back around the table and once again taking his seat beside Anna.

"Awwww!" exclaimed Anna. "I love making up!"

"I wanna hug him too! I think he's perfect for Elsa!" Olaf exclaimed, bounding over to Aðalbjörn's seat to give the latter a hug.

"Oh, I don't think you want to get too close to me, little fella," said Aðalbjörn, moving away from Olaf a little cautiously. "See these red gloves I'm wearing? I've got fire powers just like Elsa's ice powers. I started wearing the gloves for protection when I was staying with Lisa's family back in Norway."

"Fire? Heat? Oh, how wonderful!" Olaf gasped. "Can you make a fire?"

Aðalbjörn chuckled. "Yes, I can," he said, "but won't you melt?"

"I can stand melting a little if I get to see your fire powers," said Olaf. "Some people are worth melting for."

"Oh, thank you, Olaf! I'd melt for you too!" Aðalbjörn smiled his trademark wide, genuine smile at the snowman.

"Olaf doesn't say _that_ to just anyone," giggled Anna. "He must approve of you too." Kristoff smiled and put his arm tenderly around her.

Aðalbjörn suddenly had the most wonderful epiphany. He had now heard more about Elsa from her sister and her sister's husband, and he had learned about Hans from Hans' younger brother. When Elsa had first gone missing, Aðalbjörn had made a break for the most obscure hiding places possible, the farthest away lands there were. But it was only a little while ago, sitting at the table with everyone, that he had had the thought that maybe he and Heiðrúnn and Anna and Kristoff had been taking the wrong approach to things; they had been aimlessly wandering all over the world, hoping that by some fluke each place would be the one. There was no way before that either search party could have formed a strategy to finding Elsa. There was no specific place in which Elsa would have been more likely to be in than another. But now that they were one group, a strategy was possible. And putting together his story, Thor's story, and Anna and Kristoff's story, Aðalbjörn realized with a start that now there _was_ a place where Elsa was more likely to be than any other place. And he was ninety-nine percent sure now that he knew what that place was. Aðalbjörn's heart surged; he felt as though his epiphany had lifted the dismal, lead-like cloud of sorrow off his shoulders.

Aðalbjörn said, "I think our odds of finding Elsa are much greater now that we've all met and shared our stories about Elsa and Hans. Now all that's left to do is put the pieces together. Anna and Kristoff know that Elsa was fearful of what Arendelle would say about her dragon powers, so that's why she left. And Thor knows Hans; he is thus the most likely of all of us to accurately predict Hans' behavior. We know that Elsa left Arendelle because she feared what people would say about her dragon powers. We know that Hans forced her to work for him and kidnapped her once she got away."

Kristoff asked, "So what's the strategy we can glean from all this information?"

"Thor," said Aðalbjörn, "You know Hans the best. How do you believe Hans would go about hiding Elsa?"

Thor replied, "I do know Hans, and I'm sure he's very thorough. He would only have taken Elsa to a place where none of you—the people who love her—would have thought to search. Obviously he was confident that you would never meet," he quipped.

Aðalbjörn inquired, "Anna and Kristoff, have you looked in the Southern Isles for Elsa?"

"No," said Kristoff. "We would never have predicted Elsa to be under Hans' thumb like that."

Anna added, "We figured she went somewhere far away. There's no way she'd have gone to the Southern Isles of her own volition."

Aðalbjörn pointed out, "I didn't search in the Southern Isles either. In fact, before I spoke with Thor, I had no idea the place even existed. Thus I never would have thought to look there, and neither did you. Thor can attest that Hans would only hide Elsa away in a place where the people who love her would never think to search for her. Besides, we've searched basically every other place there is, and no Elsa or Hans. They must be in the Southern Isles."

"Do excuse me," said Heiðrúnn suddenly. Her tone and face were apologetic, but she looked paler than even Anna had upon hearing the awful truth about what Hans had done to Elsa. "But I'm feeling quite unwell; I have a rather splitting headache. Oh, it's most likely no more than travel sickness—nothing too serious. But I believe I'm going to go to bed right now so I can recover by tomorrow and help, uh, search for Elsa."

Before anyone could respond, Heiðrunn had already whisked away to her room.

Concerned, Aðalbjörn looked after the elf for a moment after she had gone. It was not like Heiðrúnn at all to walk out of such an important discussion, especially in such an obtrusive fashion. But he figured she was just sick from all the traveling, or maybe upset from discussing all the hardships poor Elsa must have gone through. He himself had a minor headache, though he had just attributed it to stress.

"They...they must be in the Southern Isles," Anna said softly. Her breath came rougher; she wore a guilty, almost morose, expression. How could she not have thought to search in such a nearby place?

"Zeniba," said Aðalbjörn.

"What is it dear?" asked the kindly old witch.

"First of all, we are forever indebted to you for your kindness and help. But I think Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, Sven, Heiðrúnn, and I will have to be going tomorrow. We have a beautiful, incredible Queen, the love of my life and Anna's beloved sister, to find."

"All right, then," said Zeniba. "But you're always welcome back here at any time."

Aðalbjörn nodded. "Thank you."

"I'm coming, too," said Thor. His voice indicated that any argument suggesting otherwise was futile and out of the question. "I'll see to it that Hans ceases to commit these heinous misdeeds once and for all. Zeniba, may I continue my studies while we search?"

"Take a break, dear," said Zeniba. "You've been a fantastic, conscientious student and a pleasure to teach. I'll let you take along as many books as you want. Just come back whenever you want to finish your studies."

"Oh, Zeniba, I will. I cannot thank you enough." Thor breezed out of the kitchen to pack his books.

Anna said sadly, "I can't believe we didn't look in such a nearby area. I guess we just kind of ruled the Southern Isles out as a place Elsa would go, and in its proximity to Arendelle, it slipped our minds."

Aðalbjörn sighed in agreement. "If only I'd known," he said wistfully, "Elsa could be reunited with you by now, and back in my arms, where she belongs."

"Don't feel too badly, Aðalbjörn," said Kristoff. "You've figured it out. _You_ did it. Elsa's in the Southern Isles. I can feel it."

Sven, who had been standing by Kristoff's chair during this whole discussion, said through Kristoff's voice, "I can feel it too, and reindeer are _never_ wrong about these things."

Aðalbjörn smiled. "Well," he said, "I never could have done it without you guys." He glanced fondly around the kitchen. "My friends. I'm so, so grateful for each and every one of you."

(A/N) Many thanks to countless online dictionaries and Google for an endless supply of great vocabulary words used in chapters 17–19!


	20. Parting Gifts

You've figured it out. You did it. Elsa's in the Southern Isles.

As Aðalbjörn lay in bed later that night, Kristoff's words finally clicked into his mind. The mountaineer had been right: he had figured out where Elsa was. Despite how often he beat himself up for not being able to find the love of his life, he had been the one to figure out where she was. Or at least he had figured out a highly plausible theory, rather than just aimlessly wandering all over the world as he had done the past year. It was an improvement.

And what a day it had been! Aðalbjörn was truly grateful to have met so many new friends that day, and he could hardly believe how fortunate it was that by some one in seven billion fluke they all held the missing pieces to finding Elsa. Aðalbjörn figured that was what came of Elsa being so kind and so many people who loved her willing to give anything for her. He knew he was willing.

Much like Anna, Aðalbjörn could still hardly believe that Thor was related to Hans. Thor was kind-hearted, independent, and kind of funny, despite all that he had been through. The twenty-five year old had managed just fine setting off on his own and following his passion for magic. Hans was cruel, sociopathic, out for domination and power, and like a petulant five year old, even though he was two years Thor's senior. Aðalbjörn wondered how in the name of the fire within him Hans had ever managed to trick Anna into thinking he was nice. But there were many people, including Anna herself now, who could prove that Hans was anything but. His brother could vouch for that as well.

Zeniba was a wonderful hostess and a very wise old witch; Aðalbjörn was incredibly grateful to her for providing all her knowledge about magic and for offering him and his friends a place to stay. And although No-Face was mute, the masked spirit was equally kind and hospitable.

Aðalbjörn had fallen hard and fast for Olaf's contagious giddiness. But then again, who wouldn't? The living snowman could take any situation and lighten it up. His fascination with fire and heat, although rather unconventional, was absolutely adorable. And the snow cloud Elsa had put over his head to keep him from melting only reminded Aðalbjörn yet again how imperative it was that he find Elsa and help her recover her ice powers. Sven was a fine reindeer and an obviously very loyal friend to Kristoff.

Although each and every one of his new friends already had a special place in Aðalbjörn's generous heart, Kristoff had probably taken up the biggest space of all. Sure, Anna was every bit as sweet and loving as Aðalbjörn had expected, and it was clear as day how much she loved Elsa, but there was just something about a guy who started off not liking you, almost going so far as punching you in the face (admit it, Kristoff was going to), and ended up giving you a man hug and backhandedly calling you fit to be a king.

Now, the throne of Arendelle was the last thing on Aðalbjörn's mind, but as he was lying in bed it had sunk in that that was basically what Kristoff had said. If they never did find Elsa—Aðalbjörn winced—Anna would have to become the Queen of Arendelle, and Kristoff since he was her husband the king. But Kristoff was searching just as hard as Anna and Aðalbjörn himself to find Elsa, and he had said that Elsa deserved someone as noble as Aðalbjörn to be her husband.

He really liked Kristoff. Hidden beneath the thick winter coat and gruff exterior was a tender, adventurous spirit akin to Aðalbjörn's own free, wonder-filled one. But it made no difference to Aðalbjörn whether he was the king of Arendelle or Elsa's servant. All he wanted to do was find her, help her get her ice powers back, and bring her the happiness in her life she so completely deserved. And although he doubted himself sometimes, he had a strong premonition that tomorrow would finally be the day.

"All right, you guys, have a safe journey. Come back soon," said Zeniba to Aðalbjörn, Heiðrúnn, Anna, Kristoff, Sven, Olaf, and Thor the next morning as the latter seven were preparing to set off to find Elsa. "You know to just follow the tracks back to my sister's bathhouse, and the entrance to the human world is through the tunnel."

Anna nodded. "I remember where that is," she said.

"Wonderful," said Zeniba. "Oh, No-Face has some things to give you!"

Basket in hand, No-Face first approached Thor, with whom he had spent a considerable amount of time as the latter studied magic under Zeniba's supervision.

"Uh. Uh," No-Face grunted, holding two of the small parcels in the basket out to Thor.

"What are you giving me these for?" Thor wondered aloud theatrically, shooting the masked spirit a roguish smile. The answering smile on No-Face's mask hinted that these two often joked with each other like this. "You're not just trying to lure me in and eat me or something, are you?"

No-Face's smile suddenly disappeared. He shrunk back a little bit at these words, privy to certain past events the wizard-in-training was not.

"Thor!" Zeniba scolded. "You've hurt his feelings. Of course he isn't going to eat you."

"Yeah, don't be mean! He's so sweet!" added Anna.

"Okay, okay!" exclaimed Thor, holding his hands up innocently. "I'm sorry, No-Face. Now why don't you give me my parting gift?"

Both Thor and No-Face stepped aside so No-Face could give the wizard his gifts.

"Those two," Zeniba chuckled furtively to the rest of the group. "Always bickering like little twin brothers. I'll miss that while Thor is gone. What a terrible prankster, though."

"Thor? A prankster?" Olaf was very interested now.

"Oh, yes," said Zeniba. "When he first came here, he was always trying to use the magic I taught him to make things disappear or turn them into something else. The teakettle, the spinning wheel, my glasses—you name it, he messed with it. And he still does sometimes, even though he's matured a tremendous amount since he came here. Especially with my glasses."

"Oh my God, that's hilarious!" Anna exclaimed as Olaf doubled over with laughter. "What about Thor and No-Face fighting, though?" she asked.

"Oh, that," laughed Zeniba. "Well, I don't even know how a wizard fights with a No-Face, since they can't use words and all, but they manage it somehow. Oof." Zeniba shook her oversized head.

"That bad, huh?" asked Anna.

"You think you've seen it all? You should have been there the time they broke my best tea set and spent an hour blaming each other for it through rude hand gestures and charades. It got so bad I had to separate them for the rest of the day. Then I made Thor learn an extra spell that day to mend my tea set. It took him quite a few tries to get it right, too, I might add."

Anna giggled.

"Oh, come on," said Thor, somehow hugging the ghost-like No-Face. "You know we love each other like brothers. Like normal brothers, I mean; not like mine. And look at what No-Face gave me. Thanks a lot, No-Face!"

Thor held out his hands, each one containing an item with which neither Aðalbjörn nor Anna was familiar. In his left hand was a brand new magic wand with an iridescent specter on the end. In his right hand was a fist-sized dark purple trinket resembling a lightning bolt.

"Wow, No-Face, where did you learn to make things like those?" said Aðalbjörn, his green eyes gleaming with wonder.

"Uh. Uh," grunted No-Face, holding two small parcels out to Aðalbjörn.

"Thank you so much, No-Face," said Aðalbjörn sincerely, bowing to the masked spirit. No-Face gave a little bow in return.

Aðalbjörn opened the two parcels. Inside one was a red-orange trinket resembling a cluster of flames. Inside the other was a light blue trinket resembling ice crystals.

"What are these?" Aðalbjörn asked in awe, unable to tear his eyes away from the beautiful charms.

"They'll protect you against Hans' magic," explained Zeniba, "Just in case he tries to take your powers from you. The fire one is yours. The ice one is for Elsa. Thor's is to protect his thunderstorm powers, hence the lighting bolt."

"They're wonderful, No-Face," said Aðalbjörn. "Thanks again." Then he turned to Zeniba. "Goodbye, Granny," he said. "We love you."

"Oh, I love you, too, darlings," crooned Zeniba, embracing each of the adventurers one by one. There may have even been a few tears involved in Zeniba and Thor's parting exchange (they had spent four years under the same roof now after all), although the latter would have died before he ever admitted to this.

"Read those books I sent along with you, Thor," said Zeniba, "and come back whenever you're ready. All of you are welcome back any time."

"I will, Zeniba. I promise. I'll come back once Elsa is in Aðalbjörn's arms and I've had a little talk with Hans. Goodbye, No-Face." Thor hugged the masked spirit again.

No-Face grunted sadly.

"Yeah, I'll miss you too, buddy," said Thor, "but I'm sure my lighting charm will keep me and my powers safe. I'll be back."

Thor joined the rest of the group that was leaving.

"Thanks again for everything, Zeniba," said Anna. Kristoff and Sven nodded in agreement.

"Here's another warm hug," said Olaf, throwing his arms about Zeniba. "You might get cold when we're gone."

"Thank you, Olaf," said Zeniba, returning the snowman's hug.

No-Face approached Olaf. "Uh. Uh," he grunted, handing Olaf a package. Then he handed one to Anna and two more to Kristoff—one for him, one for Sven.

Olaf, Anna, and Kristoff opened the packages. Inside were small pendants with one glowing purple crystal hanging down the middle of each similarly glowing purple chains.

"The spirit world's version of Purple Hearts. For protection, though," explained Zeniba as Olaf, Anna, Kristoff, and Sven bowed to No-Face in thanks.

"All right," said Aðalbjörn, leading the way back the train station, "let's go find Elsa."


	21. Thor's Strength

"Are you really a prankster?" Olaf asked Thor as the group in search of Elsa was walking along the train tracks, only an hour into the long journey to the Southern Isles.

"Well, let's see," said Thor slowly, winking at the snowman. "Zeniba told you all sorts of horror stories about me, didn't she? Like the tea set? And her glasses?"

Olaf burst out laughing again.

Thor continued, "Did Zeniba tell you about the time she was hosting this party that no one wanted to take place?"

"No," said Olaf, deeply interested.

"Well," said Thor, "Three years ago, she had to the host a witches' party on the thirty-first of October. A hundred other witches were to attend. My God, they were awful! They hated each other's guts! Their faces were all green—hell, their bodies were all green—and they were almost as nasty as my family. Almost, though not quite. They—I mean the witches—were starting food fights left and right, and there was mostly just a lot of hair pulling, cackling, and reciting malevolent incantations going on. Potions were dripping all over Zeniba's carpet. Those witches just trashed Zeniba's house that night. It was honestly sort of fun to watch, in a way. However, Zeniba was going out of her mind, and poor No-Face was cowering in the corner, even though he does have the ability to turn invisible, so he technically was safe against any potential attack. After two hours, the party was still to go on for another three, but Zeniba was at her wits' end. So you know what No-Face and I did?"

"What?" asked Olaf, intrigued by this story.

Thor snickered. "I coaxed No-Face out of hiding, and I asked him if he could show me a spell I could use to make it rain inside the house. He borrowed Zeniba's top secret book of incantations when she wasn't looking and found a spell I could use. It took me a few tries to get it right, but finally I was able to combine the magic with my thunderstorm powers to make it rain and hail inside the house! The witches were just freaking out, pushing each other out of the way in their rush to get out of the house as soon as possible. I recited one more incantation I found in the book and combined it with my powers once again to strike the middle of the room with an absolutely huge lightning bolt. The witches never knew what had hit them. They were terrified for their lives! The thunder was just deafening!" Thor slapped his thigh, doubling over with laughter at the memory.

"You're so bad, man!" exclaimed Aðalbjörn, landing a few soft mock punches on Thor's arm. But his (Aðalbjörn's) eyes were full of wonder. He said, "Magic sure is amazing. God, the whole universe is just amazing. Before I ended up in the spirit world, I never knew things like this could even happen, that people—beings—like this could even exist! Aside from elves, obviously. I always knew those were real. But the rest? It's just—I can hardly wrap my head around it! But please continue, Thor. I want to hear the end of your absolutely hilarious story. I desperately need cheering up these days. What happened after you started the storm inside the house?"

Thor replied, "The witches were all screaming that their dresses were ruined. A few even said they were melting. Melodramatic, really. And then they all ran away. Zeniba was so relieved that she didn't even yell at me about ruining her couch or going through her book when I explained to her what No-Face and I had done. So to answer your question, Olaf, do those things—hiding Zeniba's glasses and making it storm inside her house—sound like something a prankster would do?"

Olaf stated very seriously, "Yes."

"There you have it, then," said Thor, ruffling Olaf's few strands of stick hair. "And that concludes our study. Thor Westergaard is indeed a prankster." Thor imitated a full-of-himself, totally unfunny TV game show host.

Olaf giggled.

"Gosh, this trip is taking forever," said Anna a few hours later. She wasn't complaining, but she hadn't expected the trip to be quite so tedious on foot.

The group was just about to pass through the tunnel. Aðalbjörn said, "Once we get to the other side of the tunnel, I think we'll be back in the human world."

"Yeah, but in Japan," Kristoff pointed out as the group entered the tunnel and began the walk to the other side.

"Remember, nobody look back until we're through the tunnel," said Thor.

"Why not?" asked Olaf.

"I don't know," said Thor, "but that's what Zeniba told me not to do whenever I switched from one world to the other. So there has to be a good reason."

Aðalbjörn frowned. "How will we get to the Southern Isles?" he wondered.

"I think…" Thor started. He tapped his chin several times. "Yes!" he finally exclaimed after a moment of thinking to himself. He sprinted to the end of the tunnel. "It was here!" he called excitedly to the rest of the group.

Everyone else rushed to the end of the tunnel, where they were met by the light.

"What was here?" asked Anna. "I didn't see anything here before. Besides that weird statue thing, I mean." Anna gestured to the double-faced statue guarding the tunnel.

Thor took his new magic wand out of his pocket, pointed it at the statue, and whispered something unintelligible in his deep velvet voice. With a puff of silver magic, the statue exploded into a complicated-looking rectangular silver machine leading into a black void.

"What is that?" gasped Anna.

"It's a portal," explained Thor. "The last time I was in the human world, my friend Howl and I cast a spell on this statue to make it double as a portal. Howl is a very powerful wizard, and this is how he gets around. But this isn't just any portal. It doesn't have a dial. All you have to do is step inside and think of the place you want to go to. So let's go on inside and let's all think of the Southern Isles together. We'll be there in no time."

Aðalbjörn noticed that Thor's voice faltered a bit at the end of his last sentence, that he sounded almost scared. Aðalbjörn suddenly realized that of course Thor would be scared to go back to the Southern Isles, where his snotty family had treated him so badly (thank goodness he'd gotten out unscathed), and where he had so many traumatic memories of Hans picking on him. It was only natural that he should be scared.

A figurative pain in Aðalbjörn's heart alerted him to the presence of the guilt brewing there. He hadn't thought before that venturing back over to the Southern Isles would be a tremendous personal sacrifice on Thor's part (Thor's usual calm demeanor had belied any fear he may have been feeling before), but that was what it was.

Aðalbjörn took two steps toward his friend and put a hand on his shoulder. He said, "Thor, thank you so much for doing this, by the way."

Thor was confused. "For what?" he asked.

Aðalbjörn said, "For putting your studies aside to help us. Mostly, though, thank you for taking us to the Southern Isles. I know you don't want to go there; I can hear it in your voice, read it on your face, and I understand."

"Yes, thank you so much," agreed Anna. The rest of the group nodded their assent as well.

Aðalbjörn smiled at Thor. "I won't let anyone from your family near you," he promised, half joking. He took off his gloves and put them in his pocket, shot flames out of his hands at the ground, and quickly stomped out the fire before it could spread. "That's what'll happen to them if they get too close!" he joked.

But a second later Aðalbjörn's face sobered. "Kidding, man," he said. "But seriously. We won't let anything happen to you. Besides, we all know you'd be strong enough to fight them off if you had to. Who else here would have had the fortitude to run away from home at age twelve and basically fend for his or herself his or her whole life? I certainly couldn't have done it."

"I couldn't've," Anna spoke up.

"Nor could I have, and I was a rather independent child myself," said Kristoff.

Thor smiled back at Aðalbjörn. This smile was not his usual roguish, teasing one. This was a smile indicating genuine love for a fellow brother and the finding of inner peace with oneself after many years of struggling with one's conscience.

Thor said to Aðalbjörn, "No, thank you for acknowledging my strength. No one ever has before. Until you said anything, I had no idea that strength was even inside of me."

"Well, it is," said Aðalbjörn seriously.

"Wow. I never knew it," said Thor. "Honestly, I thought quite the opposite. Though I really did see no reason why I had to stay in the Southern Isles, I often wondered nonetheless if I was a coward for leaving. I mean, suppose my entire family suddenly died. Virtually nonexistent chance of that happening, I know, but I'd still have an obligation to step up as King, and here I was running away all because of my personal problems with my family."

"No," said Aðalbjörn firmly. "Your strength didn't come from you staying in a situation that was bad for you. Your strength came from you leaving because you knew it was the right thing for you, even though you knew it would be difficult, so incredibly difficult. I just want you to know how much I look up to you."

Thor almost didn't understand. "You...look up to me?" he said. "You, who's given up the rest of his sweet, sweet childhood and embarked on such an arduous journey to find the woman he loves? You, who's never completely lost that innocence, never lost that wonder and awe for the world around him?" Thor sounded almost angry, not at Aðalbjörn, but at...well, something. "I can tell you that I'm not interested in any romantic relationships right now, but I'm still angry that I was robbed of my entire childhood. Angry at Hans and the rest of my family for mistreating me. I was once just like you, you know. Innocent and always thirsting for knowledge about everything. I'd give anything to have those years back and be that person again. But that's impossible." Thor's gray eyes turned into steel.

"Maybe so," said Aðalbjörn. "Change is inevitable, after all. I miss being my seventeen-year-old self sometimes, too, you know. I love you guys to death, but are there times when I miss my old friends? Sure! But Thor, just look at the mature, selfless man you've become. Here you are now, taking a group of people—and other creatures—that you hardly know to the land where you've accumulated so many bad memories to help us find my love. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart."

"Mine too," said Anna.

"I couldn't have put it better myself," added Kristoff. "And a real man acknowledges the strength of others. So you're both awesome."

"You, too, Kristoff!" Aðalbjörn exclaimed, a huge sweet grin on his face for the man who would very likely become his brother-in-law. If they found Elsa, that is. "And by the way, Thor," Aðalbjörn added, getting the wizard-in-training's attention, "you're absolutely hilarious. And you haven't lost all your innocence either. How else would you have managed to control your powers and become a wizard had you not been so fascinated in magic?"

"Well," said Thor, smiling again, "maybe you're right."

He took a deep breath and a tentative step into the portal and said, "There's no need to thank me. I'm doing this because you're my friends and I want to help you in any way I can. I'll survive the Southern Isles, now that I know I'm a strong person. I'm forever grateful to you, Aðalbjörn, for helping me find my strength. Now enough about me. Come on inside the portal, everyone. We've got a Queen to find."

"Here we are," said Thor. "The Southern Isles."

"Wow, I haven't been here since I was little!" exclaimed Anna, gazing about her surroundings. "So many more buildings now."

"Yeah, they think it makes them look sophisticated and developed," said Thor contemptuously.

"Where do you suppose they are?" wondered Kristoff to no one in particular, referring to Elsa and Hans.

"Perhaps we should try the woods," said Heiðrúnn, who had not said anything since the beginning of this journey until now.

"That's a great idea!" Aðalbjörn exclaimed, smiling at Heiðrúnn. But she didn't smile back. She looked at the ground. It was as though the sight of Aðalbjörn's adoring, innocent gaze struck her heart with guilt. But Aðalbjörn, too far lost in his compelling desire—no, need—to find Elsa, did not pick up on this. He sprinted into the woods, the rest of the group following closely behind him.

"Which way, Thor?" Aðalbjörn asked when the group was completely surrounded by trees.

"Um, I don't really know," Thor admitted. "I seldom went into this neck of the woods when I was living here. Maybe to the right, in the direction of the river?"

"Follow me," said Heiðrúnn, pushing Thor out of her way and brushing past Aðalbjörn to the front of the group. "I think I know the way from here."

Aðalbjörn complied, as did Olaf, Anna, and Thor, though the latter three all had looks of bewilderment on their faces.

"How would you—" began Kristoff, but Sven nudged him along with the rest of the group.

Heiðrúnn turned off to the left, in the opposite direction from where Thor, who was the most familiar with the area, had said the group should go. Aðalbjörn followed right on her heels. The rest of the group followed, too, but hung back, wary of Heiðrúnn's suddenly very strange behavior.

The elf took a series of additional turns: first right, then left, then another left onto a very obscure path crowded out with brush and weeds that even Thor had later said he had never known existed. She seemed all too familiar with the area, even though there was no way she could have ever been here before. Or is there? Aðalbjörn wondered to himself.

Heiðrúnn finally stopped, almost making Aðalbjörn crash right into her, and ever so slightly stretched her ear to the west, as though she were listening for something.

"Heiðrúnn, how do you know where you're going? And what are you listening for?" Aðalbjörn asked his friend, the fact that something was amiss having finally fully sunk in by now.

"Just listen," said Heiðrúnn, avoiding the questions. Aðalbjörn, seeing no other option, complied yet again.

And at that very moment, Heiðrúnn's odd behavior suddenly ceased to have any more significance in Aðalbjörn's mind, because that was when he heard the sweetest sound he had ever heard in his nineteen years alive: Elsa's voice calling for him.

(A/N): I probably don't need to say this, considering most Spirited Away fans are more likely than not familiar with it, but the portal is a reference to Howl's Moving Castle, and Thor's character is partially based on Howl, who is mentioned to be one of Thor's friends in this chapter. This won't be a three-way crossover, though, so don't worry.

If you haven't seen Howl's Moving Castle, it's another Miyazaki film based on the novel of the same name by Diana Wynne Jones. I definitely recommend it!


	22. Reunited at Last

"Aðalbjörn, is that you? Is that finally you?" called Elsa in earnest, desperately trying (and failing) to untie the ropes that bound her by her midsection to the chair to which Hans had tied her. Of course, she hadn't really  
expected the person she heard coming to be her love, but for the past year, every time she heard even the slightest noise, she called his name just in case.  
So Elsa was undoubtedly shocked to hear a familiar (although slightly deeper than the last time she heard it) voice shouting in return, "ELSA! Elsa, I'm coming!"  
Was he really here?  
Elsa heard the sound of frantic footsteps rushing toward her makeshift prison cell, a chair she was tied to—quite a few pairs of footsteps, that is. Had Aðalbjörn sent a whole search crew to look for her?  
Elsa's eyes welled up with tears; she was truly touched to the core. He really would do anything for her, even after all this time. That had been the one thought that kept her on her feet, kept her alive, throughout the long year isolated  
against her will from all people save Hans.  
At last, a bush rustled, seconds later revealing the person who had caused its movement.  
Staring at Elsa with an expression that portrayed so many different emotions all at once was a tall strawberry blond boy—no, young man. He was much sturdier than the Aðalbjörn Elsa had known; his shoulders and chest had broadened out,  
and it looked as though there was yet more broadening that was to occur with age and time. His green eyes were wide and expressive, although they looked ever so slightly pain-hardened; not like Aðalbjörn's eyes at all. When Elsa had known him, his  
eyes had practically sparkled. This man surely could not be Aðalbjörn. Was Elsa having a vision?  
But his hair! His hair was the exact lovely shade for which Elsa had spent so many agonizing hours watching in earnest hope: a shade that was just on the cusp of brilliant, bold red, but after a moment of careful consideration, fell on the  
strawberry blond spectrum instead. It must be Aðalbjörn. Besides, Elsa could think of no other man in the world whose eyes, albeit concerned at the moment, would regard her with such profound, genuine love and tenderness.  
Upon seeing Elsa tied up in the chair, the young man's eyes gleamed with tears as well. He stopped in front of Elsa and finally said, "Yes, Elsa, it's me, Aðalbjörn. It's really me!"  
"Oh!" Elsa exclaimed, frantically reaching her arms out toward her love, her feet kicking of their own volition in her moment of pure overwhelming emotion. The tears that had gathered in her eyes finally dropped; they streamed  
down her soft white cheeks and were followed by torrents of many others.  
Aðalbjörn, overcome with so many conflicting emotions at once, fell to his knees by Elsa's chair, his arms locking around her in a tender, desperate way that she loved. It seemed as though he would never let go. Elsa's grip on Aðalbjörn  
was so tenacious she was sure it broke the skin, but Aðalbjörn was way beyond noticing such an insignificant little detail. Here was Elsa, finally and at long last, back in his arms where she belonged.  
Aðalbjörn had thought that figuring out Elsa's whereabouts was the most liberating feeling in the world, but he realized now just how wrong he had been. Nothing, nothing, could compare to this feeling of pure joy, relief, and true  
love.  
Now Aðalbjörn did not cry, but instead he lay his head in Elsa's lap, his arms going limp around her waist, the ropes, and the chair, completely and utterly spent.  
Elsa tenderly ran her fingers through her lover's hair, noting how soft and thick it was. She felt as though she were a mother trying to soothe her child, except for the fact that this was different, oh so different. This was her true  
love, from whom she had been separated far too long. Sure, they were in an awkward position, with his head in her lap while she was tied to a chair, but Elsa didn't care about that in the least. She was home.  
The reunited lovers stayed that way for what seemed like hours. When they finally broke apart, Aðalbjörn stood up, removed his gloves, and took hold of the ropes, burning them until they broke and setting Elsa free. Setting her free  
in the physical sense, at least. Elsa stood up to face her lover.  
Then Aðalbjörn took Elsa's hand in his, wrapped his other arm around her waist, pulled her close to him, and kissed her with such a desperate ferocity that for a split second Elsa feared he would set her heart aflame, both literally and  
figuratively.  
"ELSA!" Anna called for her sister when the kiss had finally ended. Before Elsa had time to even register that her sister and her lover had crossed paths at some point, Anna was clutching her in a death grip and sobbing into her  
shoulder.  
"Shhh, Anna, I'm here," Elsa soothed her younger sister, kissing Anna's hair. "I'm so sorry I left. Everything will be okay now. I promise."  
Elsa kept one arm around her sister and stretched the other out to hold Aðalbjörn's hand. Eventually Anna's sobs subsided, and she let go of Elsa, still staying close. Figuring it was appropriate to advance now, the rest of the group, led  
by Kristoff, approached the three.  
"Oh, Elsa, thank God we found you," said Kristoff, crushing his sister-in-law to his chest in such a tight hug she could hardly breathe.  
"I've...missed you, too….Kristoff," Elsa wheezed. Kristoff realized he was suffocating her and let go of her. Sven nudged her, and Elsa embraced him in return as well.  
"Elsa!" cried Olaf ecstatically, jumping onto his creator. Elsa let out a joyful noise halfway between a whoop and a laugh and twirled the snowman around.  
"You found me!" Elsa exclaimed, setting Olaf back on his feet. "I am more grateful to all of you than I can ever express in words or actions, and I love each and every one of you. So, so much." Then she realized that  
there were two new faces among the group. "Even those of you whose acquaintance I haven't made yet," she added with a light, queenly laugh. "Who are you, new friends?"  
"I'm Thor," said the owner of that name, stepping forward toward Elsa and extending his hand for her to shake. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."  
Elsa took Thor's hand in her own and they shook. "It's nice to meet you, too," she said with a warm smile.  
"He's Hans' brother, but don't worry," said Anna. "He's nothing like Hans at all. He's helping us. Besides, he hasn't lived in the Southern Isles for years."  
"Huh?" said Elsa, confused and taken aback.  
"I'll explain later," said Thor, nodding understandingly.  
"And who are you?" inquired Elsa, approaching Heiðrúnn and holding her arms out to the elf.  
But Heiðrúnn didn't respond to Elsa's hug. Instead, she stared wide-eyed and terrified past Elsa's shoulder.  
"H-Hans," Heiðrúnn croaked out, pointing behind Elsa, her voice no more than a whisper.


	23. You Did Not Do Your Job

"Well, well," said Hans cruelly, coming up behind Elsa, nearly scaring the daylights out of her and the group. "It looks like you've all come together, formed your little search party, and tracked down me and Elsa. How  
clever. But certainly no one did it all on their own. Care to enlighten me on what kind of magic you used?"  
"LEAVE US THE FUCK ALONE!" screeched Anna, bounding over to Hans in one leap and punching him straight in the face, giving him a black eye as she had done in what seemed like another lifetime now.  
"Anna!" Kristoff warned, yanking his wife back. Anna continued to struggle toward Hans in Kristoff's steel grip.  
"Well, I'll be!" Hans pretended to be all offended. "A princess shouldn't use such language. Maybe this particular one doesn't deserve her crown. Maybe...maybe her whole kingdom needs a new dictator. And I think I know the  
perfect person for the job." Hans smirked evilly.  
Kristoff snapped, "Arendelle will never stoop so low as to be in a dictatorship. You've done enough, Hans. Leave us alone, and no one gets hurt." Kristoff took a protective stance in front of Anna, as did Aðalbjörn in front of Elsa.  
"Why, how sweet," said Hans mockingly. "Prince Charming comes to save the day." Then he glared venomously at Heiðrúnn. "Heiðrúnn!" he spat, abruptly turning on her. "You did notdo your job. You'll  
have to be punished. This was never supposed to happen!"  
"What was never supposed to happen?" asked Elsa in a shaking, subdued voice.  
Hans said, "What do you think Heiðrúnn was doing all this time? She was keeping Björn away from you this past year." Hans smirked at the sight of the pain and shock that flickered over many of the group's faces at these words.  
"Heiðrúnn," said Aðalbjörn, pale as a sheet, his arm now around Elsa's waist for support, "is this true?"  
Heiðrúnn only began weeping in response.  
Hans continued to tell his story in a mockingly sympathetic tone. "When I first took over the bathhouse," he said, "I found Heiðrúnn wandering in the spirit world and was going to take her to be my henchwoman. The little  
bitch kept escaping, though; said she was searching for her family, that they had been washed away in a glacier run or some bullshit. I said what did I care and brought her to my office to put her under contract for good. When we arrived there I had  
a visitor. The visitor was Yubaba, a very powerful witch who owned a bathhouse in another spirit world. She demanded I give up my bathhouse to her, but I refused. While all this was going on, Heiðrúnn kept shouting at me to let her go, whereupon Yubaba  
pulled me aside and said, 'I know where her family is. I'll make you a deal: You give me the bathhouse, and I'll keep this girl's family hidden away for good. I'll even teach you everything I know about sorcery, which is quite a lot.'  
"And I agreed to this deal. So the bathhouse I run technically belongs to Yubaba, though none of the lazy bums there know it. In fact, they'd all have heart attacks if they found out. What a bunch of lightweights. Anyway, Heiðrúnn  
was no help at all as my henchwoman. She always went hunting for her family or doing other things when she was supposed to be working for me. But then Elsa came along, so I took her in as my henchwoman instead, glad to be rid of Heiðrúnn. But then  
Björn had to show up and steal Elsa from me. It was absolutely nauseating the way they flirted during work hours! Always making eyes at each other! But fortunately for me Heiðrúnn came wandering by the bathhouse again, fruitlessly searching for her  
little family, and I made a deal with her: I would someday show her where her family was, provided that she helped me separate Björn and Elsa for as long as I needed her to. Clearly, she did not hold up her end of the agreement, so I won't hold up  
mine. The deal's off."  
"Heiðrúnn," said Aðalbjörn, his voice broken with betrayal, "I thought you were my friend! And I introduced you to my dead parents and all, and we were so happy to find an elf…" Aðalbjörn looked as though he might cry,  
but he fought to keep it together at least in Hans' presence.  
Heiðrúnn turned to the boy, her face tearstained. "Aðalbjörn," she pleaded, "do forgive me. It was—"  
"No." Aðalbjörn cut her off. "I should have known that your whole spiel on forgiveness was setting me up to forgive you when I found out what your true motives were. Well, sorry, but even if I may have fallen for that dirty  
trick, I'm not stupid and I'm not gullible, and I'm not falling for this one. Keep your poisonous tendencies to yourself."  
Heiðrúnn insisted, "I can explain—"  
"Explain what?" Aðalbjörn snapped. "You tricked me, and in my grief over my parents and my naïveté I fell for it. There's nothing more to explain. I've found Elsa, despite all you've done to keep me away from her, despite  
how much you held me back by making me feel bad enough for you to help you search for your family. I pray to God for their sakes that you never find them. I can never trust you again, and you can no longer refer to me as your friend. You lost that.  
Goodbye, Heiðrúnn."  
Aðalbjörn sprinted away from the group, Elsa following after him.  
"I'll deal with you later," Hans spat to Heiðrúnn, who was shaking with sobs.  
Then Hans focused his attention back on the rest of the group, minus Elsa and Aðalbjörn.  
"All right, then," he said. "We'd best be going now. I have some...business to attend to." He jerked his chin sharply in Heiðrúnn's direction.  
"Wait a minute," said Thor just as Hans turned away, causing Hans to complete the turn and face his brother.  
"Hans," said Thor, closing in on the evil prince, who was a good four inches shorter than the wizard-in-training. "Do you have even the slightest idea who I am?"  
Hans scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous," he snapped, but he shrunk back ever so slightly. Anna almost couldn't blame Hans. With his tall frame, dark clothing, perfectly steady velvet voice, and deadly wizard magic and thunder powers,  
Thor could be more menacing than even his sociopathic older brother.  
"You don't know, huh?" said Thor dangerously. He gripped Hans' throat as if threatening to strangle him, little purple sparks of electricity forming around his (Thor's) huge hand. "Well, okay, I'll give you a hint. Perhaps  
I should inform the bathhouse personnel of what you were doing to poor Elsa all this time? Or maybe I could reveal your devious little plan to steal Elsa's throne, beginning with how often you spoke to me of marrying into the throne even when we were  
children? Whatever it is that will teach you a lesson and stop you from committing your little crimes. And I will put an end to them, once and for all," Thor vowed, his gray eyes like steel razors, his voice so venomous and so vastly different  
from the way he usually spoke that Olaf, not used to seeing Thor like this, began to cry quietly into Anna's skirt. Anna embraced the snowman in an attempt to comfort him.  
Hans' eyes widened in shock. "Thor?" he asked, completely caught off guard by how powerful and dangerous his little wimp of a younger brother had become. How could it be that Thor was now taller than him? Hans actually looked as  
if he were contemplating running away he was so scared of his brother.  
Anna picked up on this. "Quick!" she shouted to her allies. "Run!"  
And so Anna, Kristoff, Sven, Olaf, and Thor made their escape and bolted out of the woods, leaving a shaken-up Hans to deal with Heiðrúnn.


	24. PLEASE READ

Okay, so I know I'm not really supposed to create a separate chapter to do this (sorry, FanFiction!). But maripaz6 (author of the very awesome Elsa's Story) and I have lately been receiving a lot of reviews that are unrelated to our stories and frankly sometimes very rude and unnecessary. We appreciate the views, but please keep reviews respectful and related to our stories. Thank you!

~madamasharpless24601


	25. Ice Crystals

A/N: Warning: Chapters 24 and 25 will get kind of violent! I tried not to make anything too major, but for those who are averse to violence, it's a step up from the rest of the story so far. Another fair warning: please do NOT send hate if I kill off your favorite character. I will delete any such reviews.

"Elsa! Aðalbjörn!" called Anna. The former two stopped dead in their tracks and turned around to face Anna, flanked by the rest of the group.

"What will we do now?" Anna wondered aloud.

Aðalbjörn, with angry tears in his eyes, snapped, "I want that traitor elf sentenced to death."

"Don't you think that's a little extreme?" said Kristoff. "What she did was bad, but let's move on. We have Arendelle to take care of."

"Kristoff is right," said Anna.

"I think we should attack Hans," said Thor. "Clearly he won't leave you or your kingdom alone."

"No," said Elsa. "Arendelle will not attack anyone today. My first priority is to let all the kingdom know that I am home and they are safe. Then I'll deal with Hans and Heiðrúnn."

"Plotting against me, now, are we?" said a cruel voice. The group turned to face Hans, who closed in on Elsa. "Well, I won't give up yet. Not until the throne of Arendelle is mine."

"Hans, don't," Elsa pleaded.

"You heard Elsa," said Aðalbjörn, stepping between his lover and Hans. "Leave us alone."

Hans punched Aðalbjörn, causing him to crumple to the ground. He got back up, though, and grabbed the tops of Hans' arms, emitting just enough fire from his hands to make Hans howl in pain.

"Yubaba! Guards!" Hans shouted.

At Hans's call, thousands of spirits appeared behind him. There were blue man-sized frogs, women dressed in salmon-colored bathhouse uniforms, and lots of different animals, all with weapons pointed at the group. And in the center of the group, flanking Hans, was a witch who looked exactly like Zeniba.

"Yubaba? Zeniba's sister?" whispered Thor.

"Oh no," gasped Anna. "Kristoff, do you think Lin and Kamajii are in there?"

"I don't know," said Kristoff, "but we can't worry about that now."

"No. I'm not with Yubaba. I'm on your side. And Kamajii is at the bathhouse," said a voice from behind Anna. She turned around to see Lin, who held a spear in her hand. "Yubaba forced us to come along with her on an errand, but as soon as I overheard what she was planning, I started collecting as much information as I could. They're preparing to attack your kingdom. Are you prepared to fight back?

Elsa stiffened. Once upon a time, when she'd had her powers, she'd have fought back without a second thought. But after her traumatizing time with Hans, she just didn't feel very brave anymore.

"If I have to," she said, "but couldn't we try talking to them first?"

"Elsa, attack them! You've done it before!" cried Anna.

Elsa stared at her sister in horror. Didn't she understand that she needed to get back to her kingdom?

"Ultimately it's her decision," said Kristoff. "And once this starts, we'll have a war on our hands. And we do need to get the kingdom in order. It's been missing a queen for four years."

"Fighting back is the only way to protect our kingdom!" Anna countered.

"Someone help me!" Aðalbjörn shouted. He and Hans had each other in a headlock, and Hans could easily throw him and pin him to the floor.

"Get off of him," snarled Thor, coming from behind Hans and shocking his arms until he could no longer stand the pain and let go.

Hans said to his brother, "You are worthless. You had no chance of ever getting the throne. You won't be able to help your friends, so why try? You are worthless."

"That is not true," said Thor.

Hans shrunk back at Thor's steady demeanor. He faced Elsa instead and drew a sword out of his boot.

"I don't have a sword!" cried Elsa.

"Well, that's too bad," said Hans. "For you, anyway."

Then, sword in hand, he lunged toward Elsa.

"No!" cried Aðalbjörn. He shot his hand out toward Hans, emitting a red-hot beam of fire. With a swing of his sword Hans deflected that fire toward Elsa. But Aðalbjörn shoved her out of the way, and before anyone else knew what was happening, he fell to the ground again, clutching his chest.

"Aðalbjörn!" Elsa got up and darted to her lover's side.

"My chest," he moaned. "It feels like it's burning!"

"What have you done?" Thor demanded of Hans.

Hans pointed to Anna, who was standing over Aðalbjörn and crying. "Why don't you ask Anna?" he said. "I think she knows."

"You struck him, didn't you?" said Thor. "You struck him in the heart with his own fire!"

"Well, I meant to strike Elsa," said Hans. "Only Björn was too stupid to get out of the way."

Thor shoved Hans and pinned him to the ground. He took out his wand and whispered venomous words. Then, with a wave of his wand, he rendered Hans immobile.

"What did you do?" said Anna.

"I put a death spell on him," said Thor. "Soon he won't be bothering you anymore."

"Thor, how could you?" sobbed Elsa. "I said we weren't attacking anyone."

"Oh yes we are," said Thor. "Nobody hurts my brother and gets away with it."

"I am your brother," croaked Hans from on the floor. "And you just tried to kill me!"

"Brother, indeed!" Thor took his talisman from No-Face out of his pocket. "A real brother would never turn on me like you and all of our family did. You're just as bad as they are, you know? I don't care how they hurt you. And you won't get Arendelle. I will stop you."

And with that, Thor shoved his talisman into the air, and the sky turned purple. Lighting bolts shot out of Thor's hands and crackled in the sky. Deafening thunder followed soon after. Rain and hail began pelting everyone. Anna gasped as she remembered what Zeniba said about thunder signifying the start of a war.

"He's just called a war on them," she whispered to Elsa.

"Thor!" shouted Elsa. "Now Arendelle is at war!"

"I know. Elsa, I'm so sorry. I just got so angry at Hans."

Elsa's heart misgave her. She'd feel like attacking Hans, too, if he didn't terrify her.

"They're attacking the palace!" shouted Kristoff. Hordes of frogs and Yuna had indeed begun flooding into the palace.

"Kristoff, Lin, and I will go after them!" said Anna. "Olaf, get on Sven's back, and you two stay out of sight!"

Olaf hopped on Sven's back, and Sven galloped off into the woods.

"What about Aðalbjörn?" said Elsa. She was kneeling beside her lover, who was clutching his chest and moaning in pain. His hair had turned crimson.

"The fire is spreading faster in him than the ice did in me!" cried Anna. "What will we do?"

"I'll stay with him," said Thor. "Maybe I can cast some kind of spell to cure him."

"Good idea! We're going now!" Anna called as she, Lin, and Kristoff bolted towards the palace. Elsa, crying now, stood up and turned away from her lover to face Hans and…Yubaba.

"Well, well," Yubaba chuckled. "Looks like lover boy here's down. Fair's fair, I guess, since Hans is going to die. He didn't conjure up nearly the business I would have hoped for. Oh, well, at least now all the money he did raise is going to go to me. But since your lover's done for, don't you think you might as well join him?"

"N—" Elsa started to protest, but it was too late. Yubaba had already sent a disc of deadly white magic cavorting in her direction.

"You won't get away with this, either of you!" a voice shouted. A white-clad blur shoved Elsa out of the way of the magic and crumpled to the ground from its impact, landing a few feet away from Aðalbjörn. Even while he was in excruciating pain, Aðalbjörn immediately recognized what the blur was.

"Heiðrúnn? How did you know to come here?" his voice was no more than a whisper, but he reached out toward the fallen elf. She did the same to him, and their hands would have touched had they been an inch closer together.

"Hans tied me to a tree, but I escaped when the storm started. I knew that meant a war was going on, and I had to help you."

"Thank you. I'm sorry."

"No, I am. Aðalbjörn, I'm so sorry. I never intended for things to end like they did. Hans sent me on a mission to keep a boy from his lover. My heart broke when I saw the boy was you."

"What do you mean?" asked Aðalbjörn.

But it was too late. Heiðrúnn took one last breath and was still. Had she not done what she did, it would have been Elsa who succumbed to Yubaba's magic instead.

"Heiðrúnn," sobbed Aðalbjörn. "She gave her life for Elsa, and I wouldn't even let her explain herself. I guess I'll never know why she betrayed me now." Smoke rose from the floor around him in response to his anguish, and he clutched his chest once again.

"Lie back down," said Thor, placing his hand over Aðalbjörn's. "Let me try another spell on you."

"I can't leave her now!" shouted Aðalbjörn, reaching toward Elsa.

"I know," said Thor, trying to sound calm for his friend's sake. "I'll do all I can."

"Or," said Yubaba to Elsa, "You can come work for me. You won't remember him. In fact, you won't remember anything at all. What's your name? Elsa, is it?"

"Don't you DARE!" screamed Thor, having heard from Zeniba exactly what Yubaba had done with her workers' names.

"I think you better work on that death spell, Thor," said Hans, who was standing over his brother and Aðalbjörn with a huge smirk on his face. He didn't have a scratch on him.

"Shit," Thor muttered, but otherwise pretended not to notice Hans. He'd already let him get him angry enough to start a war. He would not let Hans get the best of him again. Instead, he tended to Aðalbjörn, trying failed spell after failed spell, ignoring Hans' taunts that he should just give up now because he didn't know what he was doing. Eventually Hans saw his taunts were getting nowhere and went to stand by Yubaba's side. Elsa's eyes widened in horror.

"Elsa," croaked Aðalbjörn, whose voice was reduced to almost nothing, and whose vision was going black, "you can fight them. I know you don't want to, but I know you can. You think you can't because you're scared of Hans. Don't hold onto the past. Forgive Hans. Forget him, and fight for Arendelle. You can do it. I'm here."

At these words, Elsa's mind raced through a flurry of flashbacks. She remembered revealing her ice powers, and letting go of the past and coming to accept them. She remembered working in the bathhouse, meeting Aðalbjörn and falling in love with him, and how they had helped each other. She remembered what she had said to him that day she remembered her name, that sometimes you have to let go of the past. Aðalbjörn and Anna were right. Elsa squeezed her eyes shut and tried to remember her powers, all the while thinking as hard as she could, I forgive you, Hans. I forgive you, Hans. I forgive you, Hans.

She erupted into a cloud of white scales, which drifted into the air like a million rose petals. When the transformation was complete, in the Snow Queen's place stood a magnificent white dragon with ice blue eyes. Those blue orbs bored into Hans's own eyes, daring him to try to force her under his thumb again. Elsa drew her long white neck back and roared a shower of ice crystals, which rained down on Hans and Yubaba, rendering them unconscious.

"Ískristallar," Aðalbjörn whispered. "She got her powers back!"

"Keep still," said Thor. "Time is running out!"

But Aðalbjörn didn't listen. "Let me give her one more kiss, before they wake up," he said, using the last of his strength to get up, run to Elsa, and throw his arms around her huge white neck.

"Elsa, I love you," he said. "I'm sorry I didn't get more time with you. But at least I found you, and you got your powers back. You are so beautiful and brave, and you can do anyth—" The fire in Aðalbjörn's heart made it impossible for him to stand up any longer, and Elsa lowered her muzzle down to his level. "As I was saying," he croaked, "you can do anything." He kissed Elsa's muzzle. "I may not be here to remind you anymore, but Anna will be. And Kristoff and Sven and Olaf and Thor. Let them remind you. Thank you for helping me with my powers. I'm glad I was able to help you remember yours. I love you."

With these words, Aðalbjörn's eyes closed. The last thing he saw were Elsa's dragon eyes, gleaming like two brilliant ice crystals.

A/N: First of all, I am SO sorry for not having updated in so long! Life happened, and for the longest time I honestly had no idea where to go with this fanfic. But I'm going to finish it! Hopefully soon!

I'd like to extend a huge thank you to maripaz6 for sticking with me all this time. Thank you, you are freakin' AWESOME! :D We're in the process of writing some Spirited Away/Frozen oneshots since this archive needs more love (ahem…) ;), so check those out and review! And don't forget to check out Elsa's Story, too!

I'd also like to respond to the guest reviews I've been getting. First of all, thank you for the attention you've invested in this archive. We really do appreciate the views. Just please don't steal my pen name (or anyone else's) and pose as me (or anyone else) in a review. And thank you for keeping your last couple reviews on this story respectful. Constructive criticism is always appreciated, though, so don't be afraid to come at me with that. But don't worry, your last couple reviews were not disrespectful at all :).

One guest review asked me to describe Elsa's new ice dress. Well, I don't want to give too much description, because I'd rather leave it up to you guys' imaginations. I honestly thought I'd just stick with her Frozen ice dress for this story. But if you really want to imagine a different dress, here's one: deep, turquoise blue on the skirt for her spirit name, and a white bodice with silver crystals in the shape of a dragon to represent, well, her dragon powers. And she has a little blue dragon necklace, too. :) No cape, though, because it wasn't "serious" enough for Hans while she was working in the bathhouse. Why don't you drop a review and tell me what your version of Elsa's new dress looks like? I'd love to know.

Lastly, thank you to anyone who viewed any of our stories. You are all awesome!

-madamasharpless24601


	26. Fighting, Fire, and Forgiveness

"No," Thor whispered, shaking Aðalbjörn's shoulders. But the redhead didn't move. Thor placed a hand over Aðalbjörn's chest, where he felt no heartbeat, only the searing hot fire that was inside his heart. It was so hot that Thor yanked his hand back as if he had just touched a hot stove.

"No!" he cried. "This can't be happening!"

"Is he—?" Thor looked up to see Elsa standing over him in her human form, tears running down her cheeks. Thor could only nod.

"I'm so sorry, Elsa." There were tears in his eyes too. "I did all I could to save him. I never should have started the war. I'm sorry."

"I understand," said Elsa, "and I won't hold it against you. In a way, I'm glad you started the war. If you hadn't I never would have gotten my powers back."

"I'm not sure that's true," said Thor, putting a hand on Elsa's shoulder. "I think Aðalbjörn was the one who helped you get your powers back. He really loved you, you know. I only knew him for a few days, but I could tell."

Elsa threw her arms around her lover—she didn't care how flaming hot his skin was—and sobbed. Never again would he embrace her back. Never again would he kiss her. Never again would she see those green eyes. Never again would she see his fire powers, the very ones he had used to save her, that had brought about his own demise. How could this have happened? Why couldn't they just be together? Was that too much to ask after all they had both been through?

Why did it have to be him? Why couldn't it have been her?

"Elsa? Oh my God, Aðalbjörn!" Elsa turned her tearstained face up to see Anna, Kristoff, and Lin, all with looks of shock on their faces.

"He succumbed to his own fire," said Thor. "I'll make Hans pay for this."

Anna hurried over to Elsa, and the two began weeping in each other's arms.

"What happened in there?" Thor said to Kristoff. "Are you all okay?"

"We're fine," said Kristoff. "We fought them off. Wasn't too smart of Yubaba to transform a bunch of her workers into mortals just to attack Arendelle."

"You fought all those spirits off?"

"Lin here had special herbs in her pocket that the boiler man back at her bathhouse gave her. She sprinkled them around, and they knocked those bastards out. Of course, the men in our palace helped slay them, too. We were greatly outnumbered as it was. What I don't understand, though, is why all those workers came to attack Arendelle. Lin said they'd gotten less greedy over the years."

"Yubaba transformed us into mortals and threatened us with our lives," Lin explained. "Otherwise no one would've done what they did."

"But you risked your life," said Kristoff. "Thank you for everything, Lin."

"Of course."

At that moment, Yubaba and Hans regained consciousness. Lin strode over to Yubaba and shouted, "Look what you've done! Killed an innocent young man. And you weren't successful in attacking Arendelle, either. I hope you're proud of yourself, you failure."

"Lin! Is that any way to talk to your master?"

"You're not my master anymore. I and the others who survived want you out. Kamajii will take over, and he will treat us and the customers right."

"That's a cute idea, Lin," said Yubaba. "How are you going to manage that?"

"With this," said Lin, and shoved a well-concealed dagger spear straight into Yubaba's now human heart. Within seconds ropes of thick blood covered Lin, and within less than a minute the witch was dead.

"I'll have to tell Zeniba," said Thor, before turning on Hans. "Hans, you nasty, cowardly, conniving son of a bitch," he snarled, "You've killed him! Why couldn't you have left Arendelle alone? Why did you have to become like them?"

"Because, little brother," Hans said, "I didn't stand a chance at our own throne. So I had to seek out Arendelle's throne. It's not my fault Anna survived her frozen heart and I got thrown in jail. Our brothers were pretty rough on me for my punishment, I might add."

"Yeah, well, guess what? I don't blame them. You're really sick, you know that?"

"Thor! You don't blame them? How can you say that? Don't you remember how they treated me?"

"Of course I remember! They treated me worse, and you did, too! You could have left, turned your life around, but no, you had to become like them! And thanks to your lust for power Elsa's lost her lover and we've all lost a friend."

"Oh, you could hardly call him a friend. Were you really so gullible as to let him drag you all over the world just to find a girl? He could easily have found another queen and tried to steal her throne. Think about it."

"He wasn't after her throne, you bastard!" Thor tackled Hans to the ground, shoving his hand into his brother's chest, trying to send shock waves into his stone heart. But Hans pushed through the pain to weasel Thor's magic wand out of his coat pocket, shove him off of him, and pin him to the ground.

"Give me my wand back," Thor hissed. "You have your own!"

Hans held the wand above his head, out of Thor's reach. "You have a good point—I do have a wand. I'll make a deal with you, Thor," he said. "I'll give you your wand back, but you have to fight me to the death."

"All right. You're on."

Hans chuckled. He had his sword and his deadly magic, while Thor could only rely on his amateur magic. This fight would be a breeze.

What Hans didn't know, though, was that Thor had let him steal his magic wand, and while Hans had done so, Thor had stolen his sword and slipped it into his other pocket. He also had a few tricks up his sleeve from his time with Zeniba. So when Hans gave Thor his wand back, Thor used the spell he'd learned from the one time he'd peeked in Zeniba's top-secret spell book to transform his own wand into a sword. Hans was stunned; even he didn't know how to do that. He hastened to withdraw his own sword, but realized it was no longer in his boot.

"Looking for this?" Thor held Hans's sword high above his head, and pointed his own at the ground. "Come and get it."

Thor knew that Hans was so power-hungry he would do anything to get his weapon back, no matter the risk. But no matter how high Hans jumped, he couldn't reach his sword. Thor drew his own wand-turned-sword behind him, preparing to strike.

"Thor, don't!" Elsa pleaded. "I forgive him for hurting me and Anna."

"Maybe you can," said Thor, "but I can't."

In one furtive move, he plunged his sword into Hans. Hans yelled and fell to the ground. Thor tapped his sword on the ground three times, turning it back into a wand. He stared at the blood on his clothes, and then at his brother's motionless body. The moment Thor had secretly dreamed of for the past thirteen years had come. Hans was dead.

As Aðalbjörn gave way to the pull of the inevitable darkness, the searing pain in his chest slowly dissipated. For what seemed like the longest time, there was nothing. Was he dead?

No. No! He couldn't be. What about Elsa? He needed to be with her. And he'd just left her…

He didn't even want to think about what Elsa must be feeling now. But the nothingness eventually disappeared, and images of Aðalbjörn's life flashed before his eyes: his first word; Elsa saving him from drowning; elf hunts with his friend Sebastían; his classmates laughing at him and calling him "elf boy", seeing Heidrunn long before he knew who she was; moving to Norway; entering the Spirit World; seeing Elsa for the first time; the fire crystal, which gave him his fire powers; Lisa embracing him as he cried for his parents; seeing his parents on the train; meeting Anna, Kristoff, Olaf, Sven, Thor, and Zeniba; finding Elsa. Another image he saw was one he never wanted to see: Elsa, back in her human form, clutching his fallen body and sobbing; Thor kneeling beside her, a hand on her shoulder. Aðalbjörn wanted nothing more than to comfort Elsa. But he could no longer will his body to move.

"Aðalbjörn?" He turned around to face Heiðrúnn, who was dressed in white as always, not a scratch on her from Yubaba's magic.

"Heiðrúnn!" He threw his arms about the elf's waist. "Are we dead?"

"My dear boy," Heiðrúnn whispered, running her fingers through his hair. "It would appear so. I'm so sorry for Elsa and my family."

"As am I. Oh, Heiðrúnn."

" And I'm so sorry for what I did," Heiðrúnn said. "Will you let me explain?"

Aðalbjörn released her. "Of course," he said. "Tell me everything. I'm here to listen."

"Well, I knew you from a very long time ago, as I told you. We'd seen each other growing up. And you know what Hans said about me being his henchwoman. The truth is, he's been holding my family hostage in Yubaba's bathhouse for years. He'd sent the male elf to create the glacier run, so I'd stop searching for my family and work for him. But was why I kept coming back and bothering him, when I wasn't in the other spirit world trying to find my family—to beg him to set them free. I guess I'll never know where they are. But anyway, Hans had made a deal with me: he'd promised to set my family free, but only if I helped him keep a boy from his lover because he was ruining the bathhouse business. Which I never really believed you did, you know. But it just broke my heart when I came to the bathhouse that day and saw the boy was you. I knew you and loved you like a son. That was why I tried to keep you off Hans's radar that first day. I wanted to help you before I had to hurt you. I'm so sorry, Aðalbjörn. I just wanted to find my family."

Aðalbjörn took the elf's hand in his own. "I understand, Heiðrúnn. After all, I dragged you all over the world to find Elsa. I wasn't stopping at anything either. I'm sorry I cast you out before, even though you did knowing betray me. I forgive you."

Heiðrúnn embraced Aðalbjörn, but frowned as she felt something strange happening. "Aðalbjörn, what's happening?" she exclaimed. "You're disappearing! And your hair is back to its normal color!"

Aðalbjörn took one look at his now transparent hands and said, "You're right!" Then he remembered what Grand Pabbie had said long ago about forgiveness and fire. "Surely that couldn't have been...my act of forgiveness? Heiðrúnn, I think I'm coming back to life!"

"Go, then, my child," Heiðrúnn said, holding his hand as it faded from death. "Go, and live it to the fullest."

"Goodbye, Heiðrúnn. I love you," said Aðalbjörn.

"I love you, too, Aðalbjörn," Heiðrúnn replied, but the boy was no longer standing beside her.

A/N: To Love Hans a Lot (and any other Hans fans): You probably didn't like this chapter. I'm sorry. But I felt it was necessary to the message of my fanfic and conveying how sometimes forgiveness is important, but other times it just isn't possible. I tried writing the same scene with Thor just talking to Hans, but felt that no matter what he said he would never get to him. So, there you have it.

A shoutout/credit to maripaz6 for the idea of the fight to the death!


	27. King of Arendelle

"Guys!" called Elsa from beside Aðalbjörn's body. "His hair is turning back to its normal color!"

The group rushed to her side. Thor knelt down beside Aðalbjörn's head. Panic shot across his face as he took in his friend's familiar pinkish hair.

"What's happening?" cried Elsa.

"I don't know!" exclaimed Thor.

Anna turned toward Kristoff to say something, but as she did, she accidentally hit him in the face with one of her braids.

"Oh, sorry!" she said to her husband.

"Don't worry," said Kristoff. "Wait a minute, Anna, your braid…"

"What about it?"

"Your hair turned white when Elsa struck you," he realized, "and Aðalbjörn's turned red when Hans struck him. But yours turned back to normal after you saved Elsa, and now Aðalbjörn's is turning back to normal. Do you think...he could be…"

"Coming back to life?" Thor finished. "I don't know. How could that have happened?"

At that moment, Aðalbjörn opened his eyes.

"Elsa," he said, his voice no longer weak.

"Oh, my love!" Elsa sobbed, throwing herself on him. This time he did embrace her back.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Anna, crying too, threw her arms around Kristoff.

"What…" Thor gazed at the ground in relief and awe.

"How did you come back to life?" Elsa asked Aðalbjörn.

"The most amazing thing happened to me," he said. "As I died, my spirit communed with Heiðrúnn's, since she'd also died saving you. She explained that she betrayed me because Hans was holding her family hostage in Yubaba's bathhouse, and had promised to set them free if she helped him separate me and Elsa. Apparently he thought I was slowing down his business."

"You weren't," said Elsa. "You pried me out of his grip. That was what he didn't like."

Anna asked, "But how did you come back to life?"

Aðalbjörn said, "You know how your act of true love thawed your heart? Well, when I met Heiðrúnn on the other side, I forgave her for betraying me. I meant to forgive her after she saved Elsa, but she died so quickly. I'm incredibly blessed to have communed with her on the other side. Forgiving her even in death brought me back to life."

Elsa, with tears of joy in her eyes, placed her hand over Aðalbjörn's heart. "It's not hot anymore," she noted.

He smiled at her. "That means I'm okay."

Overwhelmed with relief, Elsa broke down crying in his arms.

"Shh," he said, stroking her braid. "It's all over. We can be together now."

"Everything will be fine now," Thor proclaimed. "Hans and Yubaba are dead."

"Hans is dead?" Anna was pale as a sheet.

"I killed him," said Thor. "He'd done too much to hurt you for me not to stop him. And he was never going to leave you alone."

Anna ran to Thor and threw her arms around him. "Thank you," she sobbed.

"Yes, thank you," said Kristoff. "And thank you again, Lin. Do you need any help getting back to the spirit world?"

"Oh, no, thanks. I can find my way back. And Kamajii will know how to reverse the mortality spell, I'm sure. He's capable of much more than Yubaba let on. And about your friend's family, well, I'm almost certain Yubaba turned them into pigs. I'll see about getting those pigs changed back, but I'm not sure where your friend's family lived."

"Send them here, to Arendelle," said Elsa. "They're welcome here for as long as they need."

"Will do," said Lin, before hugging each of the others. "I'll never forget you," she said. "And I'll see you all again someday. Just hopefully not, you know, soon."

"Goodbye, Lin! Thank you!" the group chorused as Lin left.

"She was a good friend," said Kristoff.

"She sure was," agreed Anna, looking fondly after Lin. Then she turned back to the group and asked, "What do we do now?"

Kristoff said, "One of us should go get Olaf and Sven. Anna, you should go back to the palace and ask the men to help clean up. And Elsa, you should call a kingdom meeting to let everyone know that you're back. And bring Aðalbjörn with you. I think the people should meet their potential future king." Kristoff and the strawberry blond exchanged a smile.

"Great idea, Kristoff!" Anna squealed. "Come with me; we could use your strength for the cleanup. Thor, will you go find Olaf and Sven? I know Olaf likes you."

"On it," said Thor. "Perfect time for me to try out this new flight spell. Won't Olaf be surprised!" He took out his wand, whispered something, flicked it, and went soaring toward the woods. But his aim and momentum were off, and he crashed into a tree. The others covered their eyes and winced at the sound of the impact.

"Thor! Are you all right?" Anna exclaimed.

"Fine!" he called, giving the group a thumbs-up. "I think I'd better work on that flight spell, though." He got up and sprinted into the woods. "Olaf! Sven! It's me, Thor. You can come out now!" his voice echoed through the woods.

Anna giggled. "He is such a nut. Great guy, though."

Kristoff asked, "Shall we go?"

"Yeah, let's get this cleanup done." Anna hopped onto Kristoff's back. "Go, Sven!"

"I am not Sven!"

"You talk for him. Close enough."

"All right, I'll give you a piggy back ride. Just this once." Kristoff sprinted toward the palace with Anna on his back, leaving Elsa and Aðalbjörn alone at last.

"Elsa." Aðalbjörn smiled at his lover. "How did I ever get so lucky?" It didn't matter that they'd been separated, and then he'd died and come back to life. All that mattered was that they were together right now.

"Aðalbjörn." Elsa took his hands in hers.

"Just call me Björn," he said.

"You wouldn't mind being called the name Hans gave you?"

Björn shook his head. "It isn't the name Hans gave me. It's a nickname. It'll be a reminder of our journey to this moment, to finally being together."

Elsa smiled. "Then I like it. It'll be easier on Arendelle. Speaking of which, _Björn,_ how would you like to be King of Arendelle?"

Björn grinned. "Won't Kristoff mind?"

Elsa frowned. "No, of course not. Why would he? He's not after the throne."

"I'm just messing with you, Elsa," said Björn, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her nose. "I know Kristoff doesn't care about the throne. Neither do I."

"But you wouldn't mind being King of Arendelle, right?"

"Not if it means I get to spend the rest of my life with you."

Björn took Elsa's hand in his and got down on one knee. Elsa gasped.

"Queen Elsa," said Björn, "I'm sorry I don't have a ring to do this, but now just seemed like the perfect moment. So, here goes: Queen Elsa, love of my life, will you marry me?"

For what seemed like the hundredth time that day, tears streamed down Elsa's face. "Yes. Yes, of course," she choked out.

"Yes," Björn cheered softly to himself, enfolding Elsa in a tender embrace and laying his head on her shoulder, which was a little difficult given that he was a good five inches taller than her. Elsa chuckled through her tears.

"I love you, Björn," she whispered.

"I love you more, Elsa," answered Björn, standing up and taking his lover's hands again.

Elsa wiped her eyes, laughed again, and said, "No, _I_ definitely love _you_ more."

Björn smiled and shook his head. "Impossible."

The lovers, hands joined, went on bantering for a while over who loved whom more: Björn pointed out that he had searched all over the world and two spirit worlds for Elsa; Elsa countered that she had known she loved him before his first night in the spirit world, for she had saved him when he had fallen through the ice in Arendelle long ago. At that, Björn finally admitted defeat, but not without saying, "I still love you more." Then he picked Elsa up by the waist and swung her around in a circle, as he had done that first night they met in the spirit world. Then he set Elsa down and stretched one hand out to her. Elsa took his outstretched hand and stood close to his side, laying her head on his chest. Björn held his free palm up toward the sky, sending streams of light orange magic dancing throughout the air like the most spectacular fireworks. Elsa followed suit, and the orange fireworks were soon joined by ice blue flurries of magic.

The rest of their family and friends, who were all off cleaning up the palace or making their way out of the forest, mistook the celebratory magic display as a distress signal and hastened to return to Elsa and Björn. So when they reached the lovers, they were perplexed (yet relieved) to find them with their hands joined, shooting magic into the air.

"Elsa? What's going on?" Anna inquired.

Elsa ran over to Anna, a spring in the former's step the latter had never seen before, and glomped her. Then Elsa took her surprised sister by the shoulders and said, "You, my dear sister, are going to have a brother-in-law, and Arendelle will have the most courageous and noble King it could ever ask for."

Anna squealed with joy. "Really!? Aw, congratulations! Oh, my God!" With incredible strength, she pulled Elsa and Björn into one jumping-up-and-down group hug. Elsa and Björn smiled at each other before jumping along with Anna.

"Congratulations," Kristoff said when the group hug broke apart. He himself embraced first Elsa, then Björn. "It's a relief to see things finally work out for you."

"Thanks, Kristoff," said Björn.

"Yay! King Aðalbjörn!" Olaf cheered. Sven reared up on his hind legs in celebration.

"Well, just Björn now," said the king-to-be, patting Olaf's stick hair, careful not to touch his snow or his flurry. "It'll be easier on Arendelle." He exchanged a private smile with Elsa.

Thor stepped forward and also hugged Björn and Elsa. "Congrats," he said. "Arendelle will thrive under your reign."

"Wow, Thor, thanks for putting all that pressure on us," Björn quipped with a huge grin on his face. "Just kidding. We'll be sure that it does."

"First, though," Elsa chimed in, "we'll have to call that kingdom meeting. Come, everyone. Arendelle will hear about our whole story together, and what is to come. And we'll see to it that it's nothing but the happiness and prosperity they deserve."


	28. All Here Together Now

"King Björn of Arendelle," Grand Pabbie proclaimed as the littlest troll placed the jeweled crown on Björn's head.

"Thanks, little fella," the newly married King said to the beaming little troll.

Arendelle erupted in applause.

Björn and Elsa had scheduled their wedding and Björn's coronation for two months after their engagement. At the kingdom meeting, the citizens of Arendelle had welcomed Björn with open arms. They had been shocked to learn what Hans, their former regent who had masqueraded as a benefactor, had done to their Queen and future King, but, more than anything, were relieved to have their Queen back and order to their kingdom restored, and to hear that Hans would never disrupt Arendelle again.

Immediately after the kingdom meeting, Thor had faced his biggest fear and set off for the Southern Isles to inform his family of what had happened to their thirteenth son. He had freely confessed to having killed his brother, explaining that it was not out of rage, but because he needed to protect his friends. Besides, Hans had come to attack Arendelle himself, along with spirits from Yubaba's bathhouse. Thor's parents had accepted his explanation; they knew what Hans was like. The Queen of the Southern Isles had embraced her runaway son and sobbed into his shoulder for what seemed like hours. The King had promised that the Royal Family had changed since Thor's disappearance, and had admitted that they had all been emotional wrecks after he disappeared. They had known it was their fault, and were extremely repentant for abandoning him. To make up for what they had done, the King and Queen had offered to make Thor the heir to the throne, but the last thing Thor wanted was royal power. He had forgiven his parents and each of his twelve living brothers one by one, but had turned down the throne and insisted it was better he leave the Southern Isles, as he had found a life elsewhere. Despite his family's protests, Thor had then successfully teleported himself to Zeniba's and informed her of the battle and of her sister's death. He had finished his studies at Zeniba's before making it back to Arendelle in time for Elsa and Björn's wedding, intending to live there permanently among Arendelle's citizens.

Shortly after the battle, a man and two golden-haired young girls, had arrived in Arendelle claiming that they were Heiðrúnn's family and that a woman named Lin had sent them to Arendelle. Lin had been right about them having been turned into pigs, and that Kamajii was capable of more than anyone knew. Kamajii had been able to change the elves back, and he'd been able to reverse the mortality spell on Lin. The rest of the workers had perished in the battle, so Lin and Kamaji had hired new workers for the bathhouse, as Heiðrúnn's family explained, but they were kind leaders and the bath prices were now a lot cheaper. Heiðrúnn's husband and children had stayed in Arendelle for a week, but then had set off for their old home in Iceland's glaciers. As for the bathhouse where Elsa and Björn had worked, Grand Pabbie had gone back to check on things there, and found that the female dwarf Dísella had long since taken over, and was also a kind, adept leader.

Grand Pabbie and the baby trolls had now been safely back in Arendelle for quite some time. All the little trolls had overcome their illness, which Grand Pabbie believed was a spell Hans had put on them as a warning that an attack was coming. But with a little magic and a little TLC, he and the parent trolls had nursed the babies back to health. Kristoff, who had never known the babies had ever been sick, had paid them a visit after the kingdom meeting, and was beyond relieved to see all the trolls home and safe. On Björn and Elsa's behalf, he had asked Grand Pabbie to be the pastor, to which the head troll had eagerly agreed.

"I'm happy for you, Björn and Elsa," Grand Pabbie said once the coronation ceremony was over. Then he cleared his throat. "I mean, King Björn and Queen Elsa. Forgive me."

Elsa and Björn laughed and swung their linked hands together.

"No hard feelings, Grand Pabbie," said Björn, half teasing. "Thank you for everything."

"Yes, we can never thank you enough," agreed Elsa. "Without you, we never could have gotten Björn's powers under control."

"Oh, well, I don't know about that," chuckled Grand Pabbie. "I think your love is strong enough to overcome both of your magic combined. Besides, I should be thanking you. Without you, I never would have thought it possible to remember my name and all the little trolls'.

"Thank heavens all that is behind us now," said Björn.

"Yes, yes," agreed Grand Pabbie, nodding. "Now run along. It's time for you to go to your marriage celebration. I'll see you there later."

"Shall we go?" Elsa held her hand out to Björn. He took her hand eagerly and they made their way to the ballroom, where they danced until the bright afternoon sun descended into an orange fireball burning at the edge of the mountain, signaling the beginning of Björn's coronation celebration, which was, ironically, an ice-skating party.

Still holding hands, Elsa and Björn made their way through the palace. Just before they reached the door to the courtyard, Elsa stopped and asked, "Will you wait for me, my handsome King? I need the restroom for a moment. _You_ look so perfect with that crown on your head. But _I_ need to go change my dress into one more suitable for a party."

Björn kissed her forehead. "I waited for you for two years, Elsa, and I'd wait for you for eternity."

Elsa threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. "I'll be right back."

She went into the restroom and emerged after only a minute. No longer was she wearing her wedding dress, but a royal blue satin ballroom gown, long and elegant, but perfect for dancing. She giggled as she watched her new husband's eyes almost pop out of his head.

Björn cleared his throat. "You look…" he trailed off and shook his head. _Stunning_ didn't even begin to cover it.

Elsa kissed him again before taking his arm, and they went outside only to be greeted by the most beautiful sight: The citizens of Arendelle, skating on the pond Elsa had created with her magic long ago, chatting in joyous groups by the fountain, all over the courtyard, by the open gate, everywhere.

"King Björn!" came a voice behind the new King of Arendelle. Björn turned around to see a familiar-looking little girl (though taller than the last time he saw her) with ash blonde hair skipping toward him. The little girl reached him and began jumping up and down.

"Remember me?" she asked, looking up at him with her innocent turquoise eyes.

Björn's eyes filled with happy tears. "Of course I remember you, Sadie!" he exclaimed, picking her up and spinning her around. The little girl whooped with delight. Björn set her carefully on her feet and asked, "Is your family here?"

"Yep!" Sadie said, turning around. "Mom! Dad!" she called behind her.

A man and a woman appeared out of the crowd. Lisa, smiling from ear to ear, sprinted up to Björn and hugged him.

"This is what you were doing all along?" Lisa asked after letting go. "Becoming King of Arendelle?"

Björn chuckled. "Well, it's a _very_ long story," he said.

"Tell us," said Karl, clapping Björn on the back.

So Elsa and Björn told the family the whole story, chiming in for each other when necessary, so that the family got every part. When they were finally done, Lisa said, "Wow, who knew things like that even existed?"

"I told you, Mom," said Sadie, "anything is possible."

Karl laughed out loud and ruffled his daughter's hair. Lisa smiled and said, "Guess you're right, hon."

"Oh," said Björn. "Meet my beautiful wife, Queen Elsa."

Sadie stepped forward, admiring Elsa's dress. "Wow, you _are_ beautiful," she marveled. "How do you get all those pretty dresses?"

Elsa chuckled and took the little girl's hands. She bent down to her level and said, "Magic. Like this." Then she stood back up and placed her hand on Sadie's wrist, emitting just a little magic. When she took her hand away, on Sadie's wrist was a shiny silver bracelet with a blue ice crystal charm dangling off on end. Sadie stared at her wrist in reverent shock.

"Wow," she whispered. Then she turned up her face to look at Elsa. "Thank you, Queen Elsa!"

"You're very welcome," said Elsa, embracing the little girl.

While Sadie caught Björn up on all that had happened in the past year, Karl and Lisa talked to Elsa. As Sadie was asking Björn for advice on what to do about the boy who liked to chase her around the playground, Björn felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Excuse me, Sadie," he said. "You can finish telling me about Ethan in a moment." Sadie nodded, and then Björn turned around, expecting to see maybe Kristoff, but instead finding himself face to face with a tall towheaded boy about his age, wearing a thick knit sweater that read _Elves are real_. Björn had seen that sweater before. It was homemade. He stared at the boy, unable to believe this was happening.

The boy landed a mock punch on Björn's shoulder and said, "Hey, quit staring at my outfit. Sorry for the informality, but it's better to wear a sweater to your best friend's coronation than die of hypothermia at the afterparty, am I right?"

"Sebastían?" Björn whispered. "I thought I'd never see you again!"

Sebastían slung an arm over the new King's shoulders. "Of course you were going to see me again," he laughed. "I'm your best friend!"

Björn nodded. "Yes, you are," he agreed. "But did you come here knowing it was my wedding and coronation?"

"As a matter of fact, I did," replied Sebastían, his expression proud. "I've met so many elves since you moved! Word gets around pretty quickly among them, you know." Then his face turned somber. "I'm sorry about Heiðrúnn. And your parents. I can't believe it; they were so cool."

Björn stared at the ground. All day thoughts of his parents and Heiðrúnn had been nagging him in the back of his mind. If only his forgiving Heiðrúnn could have brought her back to life as well. She would have loved the wedding. And his parents-well, let's just say he'd felt several pangs of sorrow as he danced the traditionally mother-son dance with Anna and listened to Thor rather than his father make the embarrassing-albeit funny-speech about later tonight. Kristoff had also danced with Elsa in her father's stead.

Sebastían must have picked up on his friend's sorrow, for he abruptly smiled at Sadie and said, "Now what were you telling Björn about? Maybe I can help, too."

Sadie frowned at Sebastían and explained, "A boy named Ethan chases me all over the playground at school."

"Oh, he just likes you," said Sebastían. "Careful not to break his heart."

"Sebastían!" Björn scolded. "Like you're really one to talk." He punched his friend's shoulder, and for a moment it was like they were fifteen years old again, wrestling in the snow.

"Ewwww!" exclaimed Sadie. "He _likes_ me!?" She looked to Björn for confirmation.

Björn shook his head at Sebastían, then turned back to Sadie. "Yes," he confirmed. Sadie frowned, but then thought about it for a moment and giggled to herself.

"Speaking of love," said Sebastían, "How on Earth did you land a Queen? With ice powers, mind you. You need to teach me how to do that."

"Yeah, right." Björn punched his best friend's shoulder again, still not used to this once familiar gesture. "You were the one always trying to teach me to flirt. Oh, yeah, how're the others?"  
"Erik and Nicolas are great, but they changed schools. We still see each other all the time, though. They said to tell you they're sorry they couldn't make it today. Anyway, Erik had to move because of his dad's job, and Nicolas was having trouble with Erlend. Erlend got into drugs and all that crap, and he tried to harass Nicolas into joining him. He didn't, but it was bad enough that he moved away. Erlend got expelled for doing drugs on campus and pulling a false fire alarm. He was failing all his classes anyway."

Björn almost chuckled to himself. It all seemed so silly now, the goings-on at his old school.

He turned around when he felt Elsa take his arm. "Ready to go see the others?" she asked.

"I sure am." He gestured to Sadie, Karl, Lisa, and Sebastían. "You guys come, too. I want you to meet our family and our friend, Thor."

The group made their way to the fountain by the ice rink, where the rest of the adventurers were gamboling. Thor was entertaining Olaf and Sven with magic, and Anna and Kristoff were talking and taking pictures. But they all stopped what they were doing when they saw Björn and Elsa coming toward them with Lisa's family and Sebastían. Björn gestured to each adventurer as he introduced them.

"Guys, this is my new family. That's Princess Anna and her husband Kristoff, that's his reindeer, Sven, our close friend, Thor, and the snowman is Olaf. Anna, Kristoff, Sven, Thor, and Olaf, meet my best friend Sebastían and my former neighbors, Lisa, Karl, and Sadie."

Sadie skipped over to Olaf. "A living snowman? And a reindeer?" she breathed, a huge smile on her face.

Olaf nodded and held his arms out to Sadie. "Hi, I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!" he exclaimed. Delighted, Sadie accepted the hug, and then she, Olaf, and Sven hurried off to play.

The remaining members of the group chatted amongst themselves, congratulating Björn and Elsa and reflecting on all they had endured the past years: Elsa discovering her dragon powers and running away, Björn losing his parents, the journeys in both spirit worlds, the ice storm that almost made Lisa, Karl, and Sadie's roof fall in, goings-on at Sebastían's school, everything. As the conversation went on, Björn's mind faded out. He couldn't help but marvel how he had gone so many places (including not one but two spirit worlds) in the short time he had lived, had lost some people, but met so many others, and now all his loved ones were all here together now, all at the same time. It was almost too good to be true. And yet it was true.

"So," said Sebastían, nudging Björn out of his thoughts, "whose powers are stronger? Yours or Elsa's?"

Björn wrapped his arms around Elsa's waist and chuckled. "Well, now, let's not get into that. Our days of testing that theory are _over._ "

But Elsa slithered out of his embrace and gave him a teasing smile. "Well, yes, hopefully our days of testing that theory on _people_ are over. But what about the sky, like when we first got engaged?"

Elsa took Björn's hand, and, just like that day, sprinkled the deep orange evening with light blue fractals of ice magic. "I don't know," she teased. "Mine are pretty strong."

Björn kissed her cheek and shot a brilliant beam of red magic into the air, taking care to aim it far away from any people. Then he smiled at Elsa, who was giving him a quizzical look. "I think _my_ powers are strongest," he retorted.

"Not so fast," said Thor, strolling toward the couple with two vials, one dark and one clear, in his hand. "Zeniba taught me a cool magic trick. When you pour one of these potions into the other, it creates an _epic_ fireworks display. Let's see, I think you pour the dark one into the clear one...here goes…" Thor poured the dark potion into the clear one, but instead of creating a fireworks show, the potions abruptly fizzed up and exploded in Thor's face. Björn, Anna, and Kristoff burst out laughing. The others chuckled, too.

"Aw," complained Thor, wiping his arm across his face, "I just bought this tux!" Then he reached into his pocket for his wand, but soon realized he'd left it in his other pair of pants at home. "Darn it, forgot my wand. Well, I'd better go clean up. And possibly write _CLEAR INTO DARK_ up my entire arm. I'll be right back." Thor sprinted off, not daring to test his flight magic skills again, especially not in front of the entire party.

"Wizard?" asked Lisa when Thor had gone, as if the idea of wizards existing were perfectly normal. Which, after all she'd witnessed, was probably true now.

"Yep. And a very brave one, too," confirmed Anna. Kristoff smiled, put his arm around her, and kissed her. They had their Queen and kingdom back, and now they had a King, too.

Sadie, Olaf, and Sven rejoined the group, all whooping and neighing, respectively, with joy. Sadie bounded over to Elsa.

"How did you make his snow flurry?" she asked, enraptured with the Snow Queen.

"Again, with magic. He was melting, so I made him his own cloud so he'd never melt," Elsa explained. "Now he can enjoy summer."

"That's amazing!" Sadie exclaimed. Then her eyes turned pleading. "Can you do your magic again? You too, King Björn?"

"I sure can, Sadie," said the King, "and you can just call me Björn. We're friends, remember?" He ruffled her hair, then shot five successive beams of magic into the sky, which spelled out Sadie's name in brilliant orange letters. Sadie clapped her hands and jumped up and down.

"Your turn, Queen Elsa," Björn smiled, holding his and his Queen's joined hands up and twirling her around.

"All right. Here I go." Elsa held her palms out toward the flowing fountain, instantly freezing it. She skillfully pulled her hands in toward her, then shot them back out, dotting the frozen water with the bluest, shiniest ice crystals Sadie had ever seen.

"Beautiful," Sadie breathed. "Ice crystals."

Elsa and Björn exchanged yet another smile, as did Anna and Kristoff. Elsa took four steps over to Sadie and caught the enraptured little girl a tender embrace.

"Yes," Elsa whispered. " _Ískristallar."_

 _A/N: Okay, so that's the last chapter! I can't believe it. I was getting choked up writing that last line. It took me six months (okay, most of which was spent slacking) XD but I'm finally done! I hope this last chapter meets expectations. :)_

 _I know this chapter doesn't quite match up with the preceding ones. Here they are in Arendelle, but the fight had taken place in the Southern Isles. However, I meant for it to take place in Arendelle. I've edited the preceding two chapters to match up with this one (which follows my intended plot), and I'll upload the edits as internet connection permits. :)_

 _I want to extend (yet another) HUGE thank you to maripaz6, the author or Elsa's Story, and to whom I owe credit for so much support and writing help, but namely, in this chapter, for the idea of Thor going back to the Southern Isles to inform his family of what happened. With your faithful reviews of both praise and constructive criticism, you saved my story from certain death. Not only that, but we've become the best of author-friends. :) Oh, yeah, check out our Spirited Away/Frozen oneshots! And Elsa's Story. PLEASE check out Elsa's Story. It gets more and more amazing with every chapter._

 _To our loyal guest reviewer, thank you for your continued investment in my crossover and in this archive. Though I do hope there is some other reason you enjoy Ískristallar besides Elsa's powers. If not, though, sorry…but remember I really do aim to please. :)_

 _My next big writing project is an original story called The Forest Chose Me. It's about a boy who finds his calling in life in the forest/outdoors. I'm still getting started with that one, so any feedback would be greatly appreciated. It's on FictionPress and Wattpad, on both of which I'm also madamasharpless24601. As well as that, maripaz6 and I have our oneshots, and I hope to be able to go back and edit this story. The discrepancy in writing quality between the beginning and the end is really something ;)_

 _I know this chapter doesn't quite match up with the preceding ones. Here they are in Arendelle, but the fight had taken place in the Southern Isles. However, I meant for it to take place in Arendelle, and realized my mistake only after I'd already posted. I've edited the preceding two chapters to match up with this one (which follows my intended plot), and I'll upload the edits as internet connection permits. :)_

 _My FictionPress:_ u/1079117

 _To anyone else who read any part of this crossover, THANK YOU. It's been a fun ride. I hope you enjoyed yourselves. I know I did. :)_

 _-madamasharpless24601 3 3 3_


End file.
